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White House Says Expects China Will Support New Sanctions On North Korea

White House Says Expects China Will Support New Sanctions On North Korea

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif./WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama’s top national security adviser Susan Rice said on Monday that she expects China will support new international sanctions on North Korea for its recent rocket launches.

“I think it unlikely that China wants to be seen by the international community as the protector of North Korea given its recent outrageous behavior,” Rice told reporters at a briefing.

“Given that, I expect that they will indeed come on board with significant new sanctions and we’re working toward that end,” Rice said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton)

Photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a banquet for contributors of the recent rocket launch, in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on February 15, 2016. REUTERS/KCNA

Investigator Asks U.N. To Notify North Korea’s Kim Of Possible Probe For Crimes Against Humanity

Investigator Asks U.N. To Notify North Korea’s Kim Of Possible Probe For Crimes Against Humanity

By Tom Miles

GENEVA (Reuters) – A U.N. expert on human rights in North Korea has asked the United Nations to officially notify North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he may be investigated for crimes against humanity.

A landmark 2014 report on North Korean human rights, co-authored by Marzuki Darusman, concluded that North Korean security chiefs and possibly Kim himself should face justice for overseeing a system of Nazi-style atrocities.

Pyongyang has consistently brushed off the allegations and rejected any responsibility for human rights violations.

In a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Darusman recommended that the Council arrange an official communication, sent directly to Kim and signed by Darusman or U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein.

“(It should) advise him and other senior leaders that they may be investigated and, if found to be responsible, held accountable for crimes against humanity committed under their leadership,” Darusman wrote.

His report, dated Jan. 19 but published on Monday, also said three experts should be appointed to find the best legal path to hold North Korea to account and find “creative and practical” ways to establish the truth and ensure justice for victims.

Darusman stressed the importance of using the International Criminal Court but said it was “able to handle only the uppermost leadership”.

Only the U.N. Security Council can involve the court, but North Korea’s sole ally, China, a veto-wielding member of the top U.N. body, has repeatedly rejected calls for the Security Council to tackle human rights in North Korea.

However, China said on Friday it would back a U.N. resolution to make North Korea “pay the necessary price” for recent North Korean rocket launches, with the aim of bringing Pyongyang back to the negotiating table.

Darusman’s report, which will be considered by the Human Rights Council next month, said the human rights situation in North Korea did not appear to have improved.

However, he said that last September North Korea had invited Zeid to visit and expressed interest in continuing discussions on technical assistance from the U.N. human rights office.

(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Photo: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un salutes during a visit to the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces on the occasion of the new year, in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 10, 2016. REUTERS/KCNA

South Korea Seeks Arrest Warrant For Ferry Captain

South Korea Seeks Arrest Warrant For Ferry Captain

By Dirk Godder, McClatchy Tribune News Service

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean state prosecutors are seeking an arrest warrant for captain Lee Jun Seok as investigators look into the actions of the crew of the ferry that capsized and sank off the country’s southwest.

The 69-year-old Lee is accused of breaches of the seaman’s code in actions that include turning over the wheel of the ship to a 26-year-old third mate.

Lee is also under investigation for being one of the first to leave while there were passengers still in danger.

Survivors state that passengers were told by loudspeaker not to move even as the ship was already beginning to capsize. According to experts, precious time was lost through the late evacuation of the ship.

Meanwhile, rescuers intensified the search for the 268 passengers, mostly schoolchildren, still missing two days after the accident.

A total of 28 were confirmed dead by Friday afternoon, and 179 rescued, Yonhap News Agency said.

“It seems like bodies have begun to spill out of the sunken ship due to current shifts,” Yonhap quoted an official as saying.

All bodies recovered were found in the sea near the Sewol ferry, not retrieved from the wreck.

Rescue ships and cranes were moved into place as the hull finally disappeared beneath the waves around noon local time, the report said.

Divers accessed the inside of the submerged ship for the first time, battling strong currents and water as cold as 54 degrees Fahrenheit, Yonhap said. Underwater visibility was as low as 8 inches, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.

Rescuers were also pumping oxygen into the boat to help potential survivors breathe, and restore some of its buoyancy, Yonhap quoted coast guard officials as saying.

Cranes were preparing to either lift the boat, currently lying in about 100 feet of water, or move it to weaker currents where it would be easier to access.

“We are reviewing the options very carefully, as the salvage operations may hurt survivors trapped inside,” a coast guard officer was quoted as saying.

The Sewol sank on Wednesday while traveling from Incheon near the capital Seoul to the southern resort island of Jeju.

Investigators were reportedly looking into the possibility that the ship’s cargo shifted, causing the capsize. The ship carried vehicles and shipping containers in addition to passengers.

Police and prosecutors have raided the offices of Chonghaejin Marine Co., which owns the ship, for information.

There were 475 passengers and crew on the vessel, including 325 students and 15 teachers from Danwon High School in Anson, near Seoul.

The school’s 52-year-old vice principal was found hanged from a tree in an apparent suicide on the nearby island of Jindo after being rescued from the ship, Yonhap said, giving his name only as Kang.

U.S. President Barack Obama expressed his “deepest condolences to the Republic of Korea and the families of all those who have seen their loved ones lost” in the ferry sinking.

Yao Qilin/Xinhua/Zuma Press/MCT

Nine Dead, Hundreds Feared Trapped In South Korea Ferry Sinking

Nine Dead, Hundreds Feared Trapped In South Korea Ferry Sinking

McClatchy Tribune News Service

SEOUL, South Korea — The confirmed death toll reached nine in the South Korean ferry sinking Thursday, as fears grew for hundreds still missing.

The latest three bodies were found when military divers and other rescuers resumed their search shortly after noon, the coast guard was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency.

Top priority was checking inside the ship for 287 people still missing, officials were quoted as saying by Yonhap, amid strong currents and murky waters as cold as 12 degrees.

So far 179 people have been rescued, 50 with injuries, Yonhap reported.

A total of 325 of the passengers were students from a suburban Seoul high school on a trip to the resort island of Jeju, about 50 miles south of the mainland.

The crew sent a distress signal at 8:58 a.m. Tuesday. The coast guard said the ship listed to one side and began taking on water. It sank in two hours.

More than 100 ships and planes from the military and coast guard scoured the area, Yonhap reported Wednesday. Fishing boats joined the operations, and more than 550 divers were deployed.

The United States said Wednesday its 7th Fleet stood “ready to assist with the search and rescue efforts,” and the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard has moved to the area.

Yao Qilin/Xinhua/Zuma Press/MCT