PHOTO: EPA-EFE/KCNA. Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (right)
China’s President Xi Jinping will make his first official visit to North Korea on June 20th at the invitation of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un. They will be discussing the problems facing the Korean peninsula. This visit is special because it will be the first time any Chinese leader has visited North Korea in 14 years.
Xi is also expected to attend the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, where he may have a potential sit-down with the US President Donald Trump. By scheduling a summit with Kim Jong-un before the G20 summit, Xi appears to be highlighting China’s influence with North Korea and the crucial role China could play in pressuring North Korea to eliminate its nuclear programs.
With the visit coming up ahead, South Korea is also nervous but excited. The South hopes that Xi’s trip to North Korea will promote “the peaceful resolution of the Korean peninsula issue”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48666423
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3014898/chinese-president-xi-jinping-make-first-official-trip-north
https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-president-xi-jinping-to-make-first-visit-to-north-korea-11560772344
https://www.asiatimes.com/2019/06/article/xi-to-meet-kim-in-pyongyang/
PHOTO: Joe Klamar. Zuzana Caputova, Slovakia’s newly elected president
Known as a great politician, lawyer and activist, Zuzana Caputova has become Slovakia’s first female president. Not only is she the first female president, she is also the youngest president in Slovakian history, winning the election at the age of 45.
She stated, “I did not come to reign, but to serve the people.” Caputova defeated Slovakia’s populist governing party, Smer-SD with 58% of the votes in the run-off.
In her inauguration speech, she said that state officials inefficient at rooting out corruption should lose their jobs and promised to make the justice system fair for everyone. “Under the constitution, people are free and equal in dignity and in rights, meaning nobody is that irrelevant to have their rights compromised, nor is anyone that powerful to stand above the law,” she said.
She was a relative political outsider before the election, though she was well-known for her work as a lawyer in a high-profile case concerning an illegal landfill in her hometown of Pezinok.
Even though the presidency in Slovakia has far less power than the prime minister’s office, which is currently held by Peter Pellegrini from Fico’s Smer-SD party, Caputova is now the official commander-and-chief of the military and can veto laws and appointments of senior judges, giving her influence over anti-corruption reforms.
https://www.shethepeople.tv/news/slovakia-female-president-zuzana-caputova
https://www.axios.com/zuzana-caputova-elected-first-slovakian-president-2a3e2626-9c19-466f-9b12-4f60022b579e.html
https://www.intellinews.com/zuzana-caputova-sworn-in-as-slovakia-s-first-female-president-162904/
https://www.dw.com/en/slovakias-first-female-president-sworn-in/a-49220897
PHOTO: Iranian Students’ News Agency. On June 13th, the Norwegian-owned Front Altair tanker has been attacked in the waters of the Gulf of Oman. The attacks are still unclaimed but the U.S. has blamed Iran for responsibility.
Iran has sent a warning that the relationship it has with the U.S. is not looking good and that the two nations are getting closer to a potential conflict, one that Washington will regret.
Tehran’s ambassador, Hamid Baeidinejad, said that Iran was not opposed to negotiations but the U.S. should never interfere with Iran’s economic relationships with other countries, a tactic he referred to as “economic terrorism”.
The tension between Iran and the U.S. has been escalating since President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from a 2015 nuclear deal last year because it was not “tough” enough on Iran. By leaving the agreement, the U.S. has targeted Iran with mounting sanctions designed to sever its international trade ties.
Due to the threat of U.S. sanctions, Europe has been struggling to implement measures allowing countries to trade with Iran. So in response, Tehran has begun to increase its enrichment of uranium beyond limits set by the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and continues to argue that the increase of uranium enrichment is strictly for energy purposes, but the “highly-enriched” levels are raising concerns.
Two oil tankers were recently attacked in the Gulf of Oman and the U.S. officially blamed on Iran, further fueling frictions in the region. This is because in the past, top figures in Tehran have previously threatened to disrupt international trade in the world’s most important oil chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, which is only less than 100 miles away from the Gulf of Oman. Iran has vigorously denied the charge.
In response, the US will be sending 1,000 additional US forces and more military resources to the Middle East amid tensions with Iran. “This is for defensive purposes to address air, naval and ground-based threats in the Middle East,” stated Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan in a statement. He continued by adding that the “United States does not seek conflict with Iran but the recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region.”
https://www.newsweek.com/iran-heading-confrontation-us-1444432
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/06/17/politics/us-additional-troops-iran-tensions/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/17/world/middleeast/iran-nuclear-deal-compliance.html
By MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr) |
