North Korea willing to talk denuclearisation, U.S Officials confirm
Washington, April 9: North Korea has confirmed to the US that it is willing to negotiate about the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, clearing the way for a summit meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and President Donald Trump, US officials said.
"The US has confirmed that Kim Jong-un is willing to discuss the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula," said a senior administration official on Sunday. A second official also confirmed that Pyongyang representatives had delivered a direct message to Washington, the Wall Street Journal reported.
At the same time, US officials cautioned that Pyongyang offered no details about its negotiating position and noted that North Korea has violated past agreements during the George W. Bush administration to freeze its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
It was unclear what kind of concessions the US would be willing to make to secure commitments from Pyongyang.
The unprecedented summit is slated to happen in May and will be the first time a sitting US President would meet the leader of North Korea. Preparations for the meeting included secret, direct talks with North Korea, Trump administration officials were cited as saying by the New York Times.
US and North Korean intelligence officials reportedly spoke many times and met in a third country.
Meanwhile, South and North Korea will also be holding a summit on April 27, the first meeting between the leaders of the two sides in 11 years.
Word of Kim's willingness to talk about denuclearisation came the day before John R. Bolton, who has made the legal case for a pre-emptive attack on North Korea, was to officially begin work as Trump's new National Security Adviser.
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Rs 2L fine slapped on passport office in Hubballi for mistakenly stamping ‘cancellation’ on passport
Hubballi: The District Consumer Grievances Redressal Commission has imposed a penalty of Rs 2 lakh on the passport office in Hubballi for mistakenly stamping ‘cancellation’ on a valid passport.
Pankesh Jain, a businessman from Hubballi’s Keshwapur, was denied boarding at Mumbai Airport on his way to Dubai with his wife and two children after a “cancellation” stamp was mistakenly placed on his passport by the Hubballi Passport Office during the children’s passport issuance, as reported by Deccan Herald on Wednesday.
Jain was unaware of the error until the inspection at the airport. He immediately contacted his relatives in Hubballi, who informed the passport office. The department acknowledged the error and corrected the passport by coordinating with the Mumbai office. The correction, however, cost Jain Rs 11,000 and led to a one-day delay in their trip.
Due to the passport cancellation, Jain faced extra accommodation costs in Mumbai and lost two days of his planned Dubai stay. He filed a Rs 25 lakh compensation claim with the Dharwad District Consumer Commission, citing service deficiency by the passport office.
While the respondents cited Section 16 of the Passport Act, arguing that no action could be taken against officials, Commission Chairman Eshappa Bhute and member Vishalakshi Bolashetti, after a thorough review, ruled that the cancellation stamp on Jain’s valid passport was a departmental error, the report stated.
The Commission rejected the respondents' objections and held the passport department accountable for the service deficiency. It directed the department to compensate Jain with Rs 2 lakh, covering Rs 62,876 for additional flight costs, Rs 11,000 for passport correction, one day's accommodation, inconvenience, and Rs 10,000 for legal expenses.
