https://arab.news/mjxjg
SEOUL: North Korea has launched its first operational “tactical nuclear attack submarine” and assigned it to the fleet that patrols the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan, state media said on Friday.
Submarine No. 841 — named Hero Kim Kun Ok after a North Korea historical figure — will be one of the main “underwater offensive means of the naval force” of North Korea, leader Kim Jong Un said at the launch ceremony on Wednesday.
Analysts said the vessel appears to be a modified Soviet-era Romeo-class submarine, which North Korea acquired from China in the 1970s and began producing domestically. Its design, with 10 launch tube hatches, showed it was most likely armed with ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, analysts said.
But such weapons won’t add much value to the North’s more robust land-based nuclear forces, because the aging submarines used as the core of the new design are relatively noisy, slow and have limited range, meaning they may not survive as long during a war, said Vann Van Diepen, a former US government weapons expert who works with the 38 North project in Washington.
“When this thing is field deployed, it’s going to be quite vulnerable to allied anti-submarine warfare,” he said. “So I think from a sort of hard-headed military standpoint this doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
South Korea’s military said that the submarine didn’t appear ready for normal operations, and that there were signs North Korea was attempting to exaggerate its capabilities.
Shin Seung-ki, research Fellow at Korea Institute for Defense Analyzes (KIDA), cautioned that South Korea and the United States cannot be guaranteed to detect and destroy submerged submarines.
“It is evident that North Korea has significantly expanded and strengthened the operational capabilities of its naval forces compared to before,” he said.
At the launch ceremony, Kim said arming the navy with nuclear weapons was an urgent task and promised more underwater and surface vessels equipped with tactical nuclear weapons for the naval forces, news agency KCNA reported.
“The submarine-launching ceremony heralded the beginning of a new chapter for bolstering up the naval force of the DPRK,” KCNA said, using the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
North Korea plans to turn other existing submarines into nuclear armed vessels, and accelerate its push to eventually build nuclear-powered submarines, Kim said.
“Achieving a rapid development of our naval forces … is a priority that cannot be delayed given … the enemies’ recent aggressive moves and military acts,” the North Korean leader said in a speech, apparently referring to the United States and South Korea.
North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions, and the submarine launch drew condemnation from South Korea and Japan.
“North Korea’s military activity is posing graver and more imminent threat to our country’s security than before,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a briefing.
NUCLEAR ATTACK SUBMARINE
The designation as a “tactical” submarine suggests it does not carry submarine launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) that can reach the US mainland, but rather smaller, short-range SLBMs or submarine-launched cruise missiles (SLCM) capable of striking South Korea, Japan, or other regional targets, said Choi Il, a retired South Korean submarine captain.
The rear of the submarine’s sail — the tower that juts out of the top of the hull — was expanded and 10 vertical launch tubes, 4 large and 6 small, were installed, likely for SLBMs and SLCMs, he said.
North Korea has test-fired both SLBMs and SLCMs.
Shin said it can take a year or more to evaluate a new vessel at sea, so immediate deployment may be limited.
It is unclear whether North Korea has fully developed the miniaturised nuclear warheads needed for such missiles. Analysts say that perfecting smaller warheads would most likely be a key goal if the North resumes nuclear testing.
North Korea has about 20 Romeo-class submarines, which are powered by diesel-electric engines and are obsolete by modern standards, with most other countries operating them only as training vessels.
Analysts first spotted signs that at least one new submarine was being built in 2016, and in 2019 state media showed Kim inspecting a previously unreported submarine built under “his special attention” that would operate off the east coast.
North Korea has a large submarine fleet but only the experimental ballistic missile submarine 8.24 Yongung (August 24th Hero) is known to have fired a missile.
The launching ceremony comes as North Korea is set to mark the 75th anniversary of its founding day on Saturday and follows reports that Kim plans to travel to Russia this month to meet President Vladimir Putin to discuss weapons supplies to Moscow.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Jakarta, and asked Beijing to do more as a UN Security Council member to address North Korea’s nuclear threat.
NEW DELHI: The Group of 20 biggest economies reached consensus on a leaders’ declaration, India’s prime minister announced on Saturday, the first day of the bloc’s annual summit taking place in New Delhi.
Leaders of the G20 member states, alongside invited countries and international organizations, have gathered in the Indian capital to discuss pressing challenges facing the global economy at a time when the group is deeply divided over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Western nations have been pushing for a stronger collective stance condemning Moscow’s actions, while others have called for a greater focus on broader economic issues.
The announcement of the leaders’ declaration, which was expected at the end of the two-day summit, came after delegates from the world’s most powerful countries reportedly reached a compromise on the language used in reference to the war.
“On the back of the hard work of all the teams, we have reached a consensus on the G20 Leaders Summit Declaration,” Narendra Modi told the G20 leaders in attendance. “I announce the adoption of this declaration.”
The 37-page declaration addressed the war in Ukraine immediately after the preamble, and reiterated that the G20 was “not the platform to resolve geopolitical and security issues.”
“We acknowledge that these issues can have significant consequences for the global economy,” the statement read.
“We highlighted the human suffering and negative added impacts of the war in Ukraine with regard to global food and energy security, supply chains, macro-financial stability, inflation and growth, which has complicated the policy environment for countries … There were different views and assessments of the situation.”
The language differed from the one used during the G20 summit in Bali last year, where the declaration said “most members strongly condemned the war.” Draft communiques with such reference to Ukraine this year have reportedly been rejected by Russia and China.
This year’s leaders’ declaration also called for an end to military attacks on infrastructure that could affect food and energy security, while calling “on all states to uphold the principles of international law including territorial integrity and sovereignty, international humanitarian law, and the multilateral system that safeguards peace and stability.”
It added: “We will unite in our endeavor to address the adverse impact of the war on the global economy and welcome all relevant and constructive initiatives that support a comprehensive, just, and durable peace in Ukraine … Today’s era must not be of war.”
The document’s early adoption was viewed as another important breakthrough, not only for the G20, but also for India, which holds this year’s presidency.
“Despite the fact that there was intense speculation about the inability to reach consensus on the Delhi declaration, India has managed to come out with a joint and consensus-based document,” Harsh V. Pant, vice president of the Observer Research in New Delhi, told Arab News.
“It signifies India’s leadership in bringing different contending parties together and in framing the language of the document in a manner that appeals to both sides or all sides when it comes to this issue.”
Consensus was achieved in part thanks to its language, which tied together international law and the territorial integrity of states with the developmental challenges brought about by the Ukraine war in various parts of the world, he said.
“That also allowed the contending parties to continue with the document because, if they did not agree to the document, they would have been seen as spoilers, because India was framing it through the lens of the Global South.”
Under India’s presidency, Modi has been building momentum to give a greater voice and focus to the Global South, a term that broadly comprises low-income nations in Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and developing nations in Asia and Oceania.
In a strong step in that direction, the G20 on Saturday welcomed the African Union to join, making it only the second regional bloc to become a permanent member after the EU. The AU’s newly minted membership was also seen as a major achievement for India.
“From the very beginning, India was saying that we need to make multilateral institutions more diverse, more inclusive, and without Africa’s representation as part of the G20, it looked incomplete,” Pant said.
“Bringing the African Union on par with the EU and placing them together on this platform will be remembered as India’s big accomplishment.”
The AU, a body made up of some 55 member states, has long called for African representation among the G20, which previously comprised 19 countries and the EU, representing about 85 percent of global GDP and two-thirds of the world population.
Moussa Faki Mahamat, head of the African Union Commission, took to social media to celebrate the bloc’s entry into the G20.
“I welcome the African Union’s entry into the G20 as a full member,” Mahamat wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
“This membership, for which we have long been advocating, will provide a propitious framework for amplifying advocacy in favor of the continent and its effective contribution to meeting global challenges.”
Bringing the AU into the G20 was in line with India’s “move to act as the voice of the Global South,” Rezaul H Laskar, a senior Indian journalist and strategic affairs expert, told Arab News.
“I think it’s a very significant decision because the AU is, after all, a bloc with 55 countries. There are a lot of countries over there which need to have a greater say in the global governance architecture.”
Laskar said that it was “a very significant decision and it was good to see the African Union president (Azali Assoumani, president of Comoros) being invited to take his place even at the start of the discussions.”
India made big waves on the first day of the summit despite the absence of at least a fifth of G20 heads of state and government. The leaders of Russia, China and Mexico opted not to attend, while Spain’s President Pedro Sanchez was not able to to make it after contracting COVID-19.
Marking the opening of India’s first G20 summit, Modi called on members to overcome a crisis of trust in the world.
“After COVID-19, a huge crisis of lack of trust has come in the world. Conflict has deepened this trust deficit,” he said.
“Today, as the president of the G20, India invites the entire world to come together and, first and foremost, transform this global trust deficit into global trust and confidence. This is a time for all of us to walk together.”
NEW YORK, USA: Twenty-two years after the September 11 miltant attacks on the United States, the remains of two people who died in the collapse of the World Trade Center have been identified through DNA analysis, the authorities said ahead of the latest commemoration of the 2001 disaster.
The identities of the two, a man and a woman, are being withheld at the request of their families.
They bring to 1,649 the number of victims whose remains have been identified, of the total 2,753 who died when an Al-Qaeda commando crashed two hijacked civilian airliners into New York’s twin towers, the city’s mayor and Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) said.
“We hope these new identifications can bring some measure of comfort to the families of these victims, and the ongoing efforts by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner attest to the city’s unwavering commitment to reunite all the World Trade Center victims with their loved ones,” Mayor Eric Adams said, according to a statement released late Friday.
But with 1,104 victims still unidentified, progress has been agonizingly slow. The previous two identifications were made in 2021.
When the trade center’s south tower, and then its north, collapsed in a deafening roar, raining down a deluge of fire, choking gray dust and twisted steel on the Manhattan streets below, the violence was so extreme that no identifiable trace has been found of hundreds of the missing.
The two latest identifications were made possible through the use of “next-generation sequencing technology — more sensitive and rapid than conventional DNA techniques,” the statement said. Remains of the man and woman had been found years ago.
The 2001 attacks are commemorated every September 11 in New York, as they will be again on Monday.
Nineteen militants, most of them Saudis, had hijacked four planes. In addition to the two that destroyed the World Trade Center, a third plane slammed into the Pentagon near Washington inflicting heavy damage, and a fourth crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew fought with the attackers.
Together, the day’s terror attacks claimed 2,977 lives.
MEXICO CITY: When Mexican presidential contenders Claudia Sheinbaum and Xochitl Galvez entered politics at the start of the millennium, more than four in five senators in the country were men. Today, the majority are women.
The rise of Sheinbaum, who was named on Wednesday as the ruling party’s candidate for next year’s presidential election, and Galvez, the main opposition contender, is the culmination of a rapid process of female inclusion in politics since 2000.
“It’s extraordinary in a patriarchal country,” said Josefina Vazquez Mota, who made history in 2012 as the first female presidential candidate for one of Mexico’s main parties.
“I’m sure this is going to be a watershed,” added Vazquez Mota, a senator who, like Galvez, represents the center-right National Action Party, or PAN, which ruled from 2000-2012.
The rise of Claudia Sheinbaum, the ruling party’s candidate for next year’s presidential election, and Xochitl Galvez, the main opposition contender, is the culmination of a rapid process of female inclusion in politics since 2000.
Many women in Mexico, who make up 52 percent of the population, hope the government that takes office in October 2024 will empower them as never before.
“Just imagine having a female president in a country as macho as Mexico!” said Maria del Carmen Garcia, 70, a secretary who said women’s pay needs to catch up with men’s.
Latest polls suggest either former Mexico City Mayor Sheinbaum, the current favorite and candidate of leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or Galvez, a businesswoman-turned senator, are likeliest to win the election.
Still, respected former foreign minister Marcelo Ebrard, who was runner-up to Sheinbaum in the ruling National Regeneration Movement’s presidential primary, denounced the contest as unfair and could soon mount a rival bid.
Almost half of continental Latin America, including Brazil, has already elected female heads of government, but only Honduras and Peru currently have women presidents. Victory for Sheinbaum or Galvez would make them the first woman to win a general election in the United States, Mexico or Canada.
Home to the world’s second biggest Roman Catholic population, Mexico was for years a bastion of traditional values that tended to limit women’s access to a life outside the home.
“We’re only just starting to feel these changes now,” said Angelica Rodriguez, 49, an accountant who said she lost her government job two decades ago because she was pregnant. “Because before, men just looked out for men.”
Women remain seriously under-represented in board rooms, are paid significantly less than male counterparts, and are more likely to work in the informal economy, studies show.
Forced marriages of girls still plague Mexico, and violence against women has been rising.
Four in every 100 girls aged 12-17 were either married or in a voluntary conjugal union, or had been, according to a 2020 census.
Meanwhile femicides, or gender-motivated killings of women, have more than doubled since 2015, when 427 were recorded.
SOUTH CHINA SEA: The Philippines has completed a supply mission for troops stationed in a rusty World War Two-era ship, but not without a usual cat and mouse chase with Chinese vessels in the South China Sea.
Reuters went onboard one of the Philippine Coast Guard’s vessels escorting the mission to the Second Thomas Shoal on Friday and witnessed how the Chinese Coast Guard and maritime militia vessels tried to chase and block the Philippine contingent from reaching their destination.
China said the vessels entered the waters without its permission.
During the mission, two Chinese ships blocked two Philippine coast guard vessels. In another instance, a Philippine ship was surrounded by a Chinese coast guard vessel and three maritime militia vessels.
China claims that the Philippines is bringing construction materials that reinforces the rusty warship and violates China’s sovereignty in the shoal. The Philippines says it is taking water and food to its troops.
One of the Chinese ships was also seen heading dangerously close to the Philippine vessel which Reuters was onboard, while several Chinese militia vessels tried to block its path.
“We always encounter dangerous maneuvers, shadowing activities, blocking not only from China coast guard vessels, but also from China militia vessels,” Philippine Coast Guard commanding officer Emmanuel Dangate told reporters after the mission.
“It is imperative that the supplies be delivered to BRP Sierra Madre to support our soldiers stationed there.”
The Philippines intentionally grounded the warship in 1999 as part of its sovereignty claim to the shoal, which is located inside its 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
China’s coast guard said on Friday two Philippine supply boats and two coast guard ships had entered the waters adjacent to the shoal without permission from the Chinese government.
China claims that the Philippines is bringing construction materials that reinforces the rusty warship and violates China’s sovereignty on the shoal. The Philippines says it is taking water and food to its troops.
A US Navy plane was also spotted overhead during Friday’s mission.
In a radio message to its Chinese counterpart, the Philippine coast guard warned that the Chinese actions would affect relations between the two countries.
The actions are “illegal, aggressive and destabilizing,” it said.
It was the second successfully completed resupply mission since Aug. 5 when China’s coast guard used a water cannon to deter the Philippine ships.
In 2016, the Philippines won an international arbitration award against China, with the tribunal invalidating Beijing’s sweeping claim to sovereignty over most of the South China Sea. Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines have various claims to certain areas.