Defector urges continued pressure
TOKYO – Shin Dong-hyuk, the North Korean prison-camp survivor who has admitted that parts of his well-known tale are inaccurate, has urged his supporters to continue publicizing the “horrendous and unspeakable horrors that are taking place” in the totalitarian state.
Shin is the only person known to have escaped from one of North Korea’s total-control zones.
His testimony of torture and imprisonment played a large role at the UN commission of inquiry into North Korea’s human-rights abuses, which triggered the most concerted push yet to hold the state’s leaders accountable for decades of violations.
But Shin has now admitted that many of the places and timing of events in his telling of his story were wrong, although he insists the horrific treatment he has described so many times did happen.
Shin was forced to acknowledge the problems with his story after other defectors in South Korea began questioning his version of events and threatened to expose him.
Palestinian move at ICC signals new stage
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Following a decision by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court on Friday to launch an inquiry into possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories, the longest-running conflict in the Middle East now enters a volatile new stage.
The international court has never handled a case as legally complex and as politically loaded as one that could arise from the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Israeli leaders blasted the decision by ICC prosecutors to open its probe. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israeli soldiers would never be tried by the ICC and damned the court for giving “international cover to international terror.”
The Palestinian Authority applauded the ICC decision to begin its probe. Frustrated by the failure of U.S.-brokered peace talks and under growing pressure from his people to confront the Israeli occupation, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is now waging diplomatic war against Israel, betting on a risky campaign to fully “internationalize the struggle” by moving toward the international court in The Hague, and away from the United States.
Islamic State group releases 200 captives
ALTON KUPRI, Iraq – The Islamic State group released about 200 Yazidis held for five months in Iraq, mostly elderly, infirm captives who likely slowed the extremists down, Kurdish military officials said Sunday.
Almost all of the freed prisoners are in poor health and bore signs of abuse and neglect. Three were young children. The former captives were being questioned and receiving medical treatment on Sunday in the town of Alton Kupri.
Gen. Shirko Fatih, commander of Kurdish peshmerga forces in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, said it appears the militants released the prisoners because they were too much of a burden.
“It probably became too expensive to feed them and care for them,” he said.
Canadian minister’s convoy egged
JERUSALEM – Dozens of Palestinian protesters hurled eggs and shoes at the convoy of the visiting Canadian foreign minister Sunday in a show of defiance toward Canada’s perceived pro-Israel stance.
John Baird was visiting Ramallah to meet Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki when demonstrators pelted his convoy.
The Palestinian protesters also held signs reading: “Baird, you are not welcome in Palestine” and “Baird, Jerusalem is our capital.”
Baird later brushed off the protest, saying “I was in Mike Harris’ cabinet for four years. I got a lot worse.”
Canada opposes the Palestinians’ attempts to reach statehood without direct negotiations with Israel as well as their recent bid to pursue war crimes charges against Israel at the International Criminal Court.
“This person backs up the Zionist movement,” protester Abdullah Abu-Rahmeh said. “This person diminishes the rights of our people, takes part and backs up building of settlements. We tell him that he’s not welcome.”
Washington Post, AP
