North Korea's Kim says US acting in 'bad faith'
Vladivostok: Kim Jong Un has accused the US of acting in "bad faith" in talks on its nuclear arsenal, North Korean state media said Friday as he left Russia following his first summit with President Vladimir Putin.
Kim's armoured train departed the Far Eastern port city of Vladivostok a day after talks that saw Putin back the North's need for "security guarantees" in its standoff with the United States.
The official Korean Central News Agency reported that Kim told Putin the US had adopted a "unilateral attitude in bad faith" at a summit with US President Donald Trump two months ago in Hanoi.
"Peace and security on the Korean peninsula will entirely depend on the US future attitude, and the DPRK will gird itself for every possible situation," Kim was quoted as saying.
The Kim-Trump summit broke down in late February without a deal, after cash-strapped Pyongyang demanded immediate relief from sanctions but the two sides disagreed over what the North was prepared to give up in return.
Russia has called for the sanctions to be eased, while the US has accused it of trying to help Pyongyang evade some of the measures -- accusations Moscow denies.
Just a week ago, Pyongyang demanded the removal of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from the stalled nuclear talks, accusing him of derailing the process.
On Thursday, Putin emerged from the meeting saying that like Washington, Moscow supported efforts to reduce tensions and prevent nuclear conflicts.
But he also insisted that the North needed "guarantees of its security, the preservation of its sovereignty".
It was "what the North has been saying all along" said Kim Keun-sik, professor of North Korean Studies at Kyungnam University, adding that Putin's support for Pyongyang's stance was the "biggest prize" Kim won in Vladivostok.
Putin flew on to another summit in Beijing the same day, while Kim stayed in Vladivostok and had been due to take part in a series of cultural events.
But the mercurial North Korean kept officials in suspense about his post-summit plans.
A wreath-laying ceremony was delayed by two hours on Friday morning, with an honour guard kept waiting and the red carpet rolled up.
Kim eventually showed up and the wreath was laid. Solemn music played as he stood, hat in hand wearing a black double-breasted waistcoat.
Russian media had reported that Kim would be visiting the city's aquarium and seeing a ballet, but the visit was apparently cut short.
Kim instead turned up at the train station in the afternoon and, after a final departure ceremony with a military band, boarded his train and left around 3:30 pm (0530 GMT).
Regional governor Oleg Kozhemyako told journalists that Kim had also been to a restaurant that his father had previously visited.
The North Koreans ate Russian food and listened to "traditional Russian folk songs that they know very well and love," Kozhemyako said.
"He promised to come back, he liked the city, he liked the region; we tried to do everything," Kozhemyako said The summit saw both leaders saying they were looking to strengthen ties that date back to the Soviet Union's support for the founder of North Korea, Kim's grandfather Kim Il Sung.
Kim said he hoped to usher in a "new heyday" in ties between Pyongyang and Moscow.
The North Korean strongman invited Putin to visit "at a convenient time" and the invitation was "readily accepted", KCNA said.
"Kim met Putin because he wanted to show he had someone on his side," said Lee Woo-young, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
"Kim is seeking the upper hand for future talks with the US and meeting foreign leaders like Putin can help him do that." But Washington was unlikely to be swayed, he added, with analyst Kim also doubting the US would be "surprised or alarmed".
The meeting was Kim Jong Un's first with another head of state since returning from the summit with Trump.
It followed repeated invitations from Putin after Kim embarked on a series of diplomatic overtures last year.
Since March 2018, the North Korean leader has held four meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, three with South Korea's Moon Jae-in, two with Trump and one with Vietnam's president.
Soon after his first election as Russian president, Putin sought to normalise relations with Pyongyang and met Kim Jong Il -- the current leader's father and predecessor -- three times, including a 2002 meeting also held in Vladivostok.
China has since cemented its role as the isolated North's most important ally, its largest trading partner and crucial fuel supplier, and analysts say Kim could be looking to balance Beijing's influence.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
