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US urges North Korea to release detainee Merrill Newman
Mr Newman was shown in a video released by North Korea apparently reading a confession
BBC., 30 November 2013Last updated at 23:15 GMT
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The White House has urged the release of US citizen Merrill Newman, detained in North Korea for more than a month.
On Saturday, state media in North Korea said Mr Newman, 85,
had confessed to "indelible crimes" against the state during the 1950-53
Korean War. It published what it described as a "statement of apology" by Mr Newman. The US also called on Pyongyang to release another American,
Kenneth Bae, held since November 2012 and sentenced in May to 15 years'
hard labour. "We remain deeply concerned about the welfare of the US
citizens held in custody in the DPRK [North Korea]" said National
Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden. "Given Mr Newman's advanced age and health conditions, we
urge the DPRK to release Mr. Newman so he may return home and reunite
with his family," she went on. Regarding Mr Bae, a Korean-American, she said: "We continue
to urge the DPRK authorities to grant him amnesty and immediate
release." Pyongyang accused Mr Bae - described as both a tour operator
and Christian missionary - of using his tourism business to plot
sedition. 'Mistaken identity'The official Korean Central News Agency said on Saturday that
Mr Newman had ordered the deaths of North Korean soldiers and civilians
in the Korean War. Although Mr Newman did serve during the Korean War, his family says he is the victim of mistaken identity. Pyongyang's state media have routinely publicised alleged
apologies from previous US detainees, which cannot be independently
verified, says the BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul. Authorities have previously been accused of coercing confessions from detainees. Some observers say Mr Newman's alleged confession could allow North Korea to release him without formal legal proceedings.
.
"I have been guilty of a long list of indelible crimes," the statement reads
'Forgive me'Mr Newman - a pensioner from Palo Alto, California - has been
held in North Korea since being taken off a plane as he prepared to
leave the country on 26 October, following a 10-day tourist visit. In a video released by North Korean authorities, Mr Newman is shown reading his alleged apology, dated 9 November. It claims he was an "adviser of the Kuwol Unit of the UN
Korea 6th Partisan Regiment part of the Intelligence Bureau of the Far
East Command" - an apparent reference to one of the special operations
units acting against the North. Mr Newman apparently confesses to trying to contact surviving soldiers during his trip as a tourist. The statement adds: "Please forgive me." But Mr Newman's family has said there must have been "some
dreadful misunderstanding" and has appealed for his release, saying he
may need medication. Another veteran, also named Merrill Newman, was awarded a Silver Star medal for his efforts during the Korean War. He has previously told Reuters news agency he thought it was possible there had been "a case of mistaken identity". US troops backed South Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, which killed at least two million people.
Iraqi police have found the bodies of 18 people
grouped together and shot in the head and chest. The victims were
previously abducted from their homes.
The grisly scene was discovered in Meshahda, a predominantly
Sunni Muslim area, around 32km north of Baghdad, reports Reuters
citing police and morgue sources. Many of the bodies found had
been blindfolded and showed signs of torture.
The victims, all male, were taken on early Friday by men wearing
military uniforms and driving around six SUVs, which looked like
army vehicles. The victims' families were told that they were
suspects in an official investigation and were being taken away
for questioning, witnessed told AFP.
It’s not clear which group was behind the mass execution, but the
area has been plagued by attacks by militants dressed as
soldiers. .
"It is definitely al Qaeda because this is the area where they
are operating," a senior official in Iraq's federal police
told Reuters on conditions of anonymity. .
There were four police officers, an army major, the headmaster of
a school and a mayor from the neighborhood among the victims. A
Sunni Muslim tribal sheikh and his son were also among those shot
dead.
The bodies were found in an orchard by local police, who were
alerted by the relatives of the abductees. .
The deaths add to the long list of casualties in Iraq, which
endures its bloodiest year since 2006-07, when tens of thousands
of people were killed due to sectarian violence. This week alone
more than 200 people have been killed so far nationwide.
Abductions and execution-style killings are on the rise in the
country along with bombings and gun attacks. On Wednesday, Iraqi
police found the bodies of 13 people around Baghdad, apparent
victims of execution-style killings.
The Iraqi violence was condemned on Wednesday by the UN Security
Council. . "The members of the Security Council expressed their deep
condolences to the families of the victims and reaffirmed their
support for the people and the government of Iraq, and their
commitment to Iraq’s security," the international security
body said in a statement. .
Baghdad earlier appealed for international help in battling
militant fighters, who make it hard for the government to hold a
general election early next year.
France and Turkey have recently offered assistance to Nuri
Maliki’s government in combating militancy.
Kirk Spitzer, Special for USA TODAY
12:48 p.m. EST November 26, 2013
China has claimed a stretch of ocean and Japan and the USA will
challenge that when a U.S. carrier battle group and Japanese warships
arrive on Wednesday.
NAHA,
OKINAWA, Japan — An American carrier battle group and a flotilla of
Japanese warships will arrive Wednesday near a vast stretch of ocean
claimed by China in what is shaping up as a test of how Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe and the USA will stand up to the challenge. . The joint
U.S.-Japan exercises in the sea are a direct challenge to China's claim.
On Tuesday, the U.S. military said two Air Force B-52 bombers flew over
the sea without notifying Beijing despite China's demand that it be
told if anyone plans to gly military aircraft over its self-claimed "air
defense zone. . The aircraft took off from Guam on Monday, part of a
regular exercise, said a U.S. defense official who spoke to AFP news
service on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to
divilge the information. . China has been laying claim to nearly 1
million square miles of ocean known as the East China Sea, insisting
that the sea's energy resources and fisheries belong to China. Much of
the ocean territory it claims is hundreds of miles from its shore,
including waters off the coasts of Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. . On
Saturday China went further than ever, announcing it had designated
much of the sea as an air-defense zone it controls. The zone includes
the Japan-held Senkaku Islands, a string of uninhabited islets that
China calls the Diaoyus. The Chinese Defense Ministry said the zone was
created to "guard against potential air threats." . "China has been
pushing and testing Abe since he took office and for the most part he
has been passing," said Brad Glosserman, executive director of the
Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think
tank in Honolulu. . "This is a very dumb, very risky move by China,"
he said. "If the People's Liberation Army tries to interfere (with the
US-Japan exercise), there will be real problems." The challenge
represents a test for Abe, a conservative party prime minister elected
in 2012 who has vowed to shift Japan's deferential military posture to a
more muscular stance that recognizes its right to defend itself. . On
Tuesday, Abe directly confronted China, stating he would not recognize
the Chinese air zone over the East China Sea or any of its claims to the
Senkakus. . "We will take steps against any attempt to change the
status quo by use of force as we are determined to defend the country's
sea and airspace," Abe said. For the U.S.' part, Defense Secretary
Chuck Hagel said the Chinese action represents a "destabilizing attempt
to alter the status quo" and "will not in any way change how the United
States conducts military operations in the region." . To that end,
the U.S. Navy arrived in force Tuesday off the coast of Japan for a
complex exercise in which Japanese naval ships and U.S. fighter jets,
warships and submarines will practice scenarios for a possible attack on
Japan. . Sailing into the waters southeast of Okinawa on Tuesday to
prepare for a long-planned exercise was the aircraft carrier USS George
Washington, guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam, guided-missile
destroyers USS Curtis Wilbur, USS Lassen, USS McCampbell, USS Mustin,
maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft and a Navy submarine. . China
issued a protest with Japan and the U.S. government over the exercises
and opposition to China's self-claimed right to an air-defense zone over
the sea. Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said Japan's complaint
about the zone is "absolutely groundless and unacceptable," according to
Japan's Kyodo news service. Yang said Japan has "no right to make
irresponsible remarks" on the sea's airspace, portions of which have
been jointly administered by Japan and the United States for decades.
Yujun also urged the United States to "not take sides." . Earlier
this year, Japan scrambled fighter jets when Chinese planes flew near
the Senkaku islands, a rich fishing ground annexed by Japan in 1895 and
purchased by the legislature in 2012. Chinese interceptor aircraft
conducted the first flights into the zone after it went into force at 10
a.m. on Saturday. . The Chinese moves have inflamed Japan and
worried other nations that say they may now need to inform China when
their commercial flights are heading over the East China Sea. It also
has U.S. allies concerned that China is becoming more aggressive against
them since the installation a year ago of Xi Jinping as leader of the
Communist regime. . But Hagel reaffirmed the U.S. military
commitment to the 1952 U.S.-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty that commits
Washington to intervene in defense of Japan if there is an attack on
Japanese-administered territory. And Abe has backed up his belief that
Japan must modify its stance held since World War II that Japan's
defense can be outsourced entirely to the United States. . Abe has
been pressing for Japan to raise its readiness and play a bigger role in
global security since he came to power in December 2012 and won a
majority for his Liberal Democratic Party in the upper house of the
Japan legislature in July. Defense spending in Japan has seen its
largest increase in 22 years, says Kyodo. The spending has zeroed in on
boosting Japan's capabilities to defend against amphibious assaults. . But
Abe has yet to garner the votes to change Japan's constitution so its
defense forces can project the full military powers of a sovereign
state. The constitution, written by the U.S. military after the defeat
of Japan in WWII, restrains what Japan can do militarily. The U.S.
military retains bases in Japan, primarily in Okinawa, and exercises
between the two militaries have grown in size and complexity in recent
years. . Although precise locations have not been announced for the
latest exercise, specific training events — which will include
land-based patrol planes and other aircraft — are supposed to take place
across large stretches of Japanese and international airspace,
including parts of the East China Sea. . China's Ministry of
National Defense announced that any foreign aircraft entering its newly
drafted "East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone" must file a
flight plan with Chinese authorities, stay in two-way radio contact and
follow other instructions. Failure to do so will result in "defensive emergency measures" by China's armed forces, according to the statement. . It
is not clear why China chose to announce the new air restrictions now,
said Narushige Michishita, Director of the Security and International
Studies Program at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in
Tokyo. Whether Jinping approved of it or the military demanded it is
unknown, Michishita said. "It is a scary scenario," Michishita said. "What happens next is up to China."
- Iran
and six world powers reached a breakthrough agreement early on Sunday
to curb Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for limited sanctions
relief, in a first step towards resolving a dangerous decade-old
standoff.
The agreement between Iran and the United States,
France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia was nailed down after more
than four days of tortuous negotiations in the Swiss city of Geneva.
As
part of the six-month interim deal, Iran will get access to the
equivalent of 3.1 billion euros in foreign exchange and has committed to
halting uranium enrichment above five percent.
European Union
foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who has been coordinating talks
with Iran on behalf of the major powers, said it created time and space
for talks aimed at reaching a comprehensive solution to the dispute.
In
Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama said that if Iran did not meet
its commitments during a six-month period, the United States would turn
off sanctions relief and "ratchet up the pressure."
"Today, that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure - a future in
which we can verify that Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful, and that
it cannot build a nuclear weapon. While today's announcement is just a
first step, it achieves a great deal. For the first time in nearly a
decade, we have halted the process of the Iranian nuclear programme, and
key parts of the programme will be rolled back. Iran had committed to
halting certain levels of enrichment and neutralising part of its
stockpile," said the president.
U.S. Secretary of State John
Kerry said that an agreement between Iran and major powers would make
it harder for Iran to make a dash to build a nuclear weapon and would
make Israel and other U.S. allies safer.
But Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanhayu's government denounced the agreement as "a
bad deal" that Israel did not regard itself as bound by.
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