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A30 world news
Dialuna 21 Maart 2022

S. Korea’s next leader to abandon Blue House for new office

(AP) — South Korea’s tasks require more urgent it would allow the enemy to
incoming president said attention, such as surging strike the presidential office
Sunday he will abandon COVID-19 cases, the North and military headquarters
the mountainside presi- Korean nuclear threat and di- simultaneously, according to
dential palace of Blue verse economic woes. South Korean media.
House and establish his Yun Ho-jung, a leader of
office at the Defense Min- the liberal Democratic Party, Outgoing liberal President
istry compound in central the biggest political party in Moon Jae-in, a Democratic
Seoul to better communi- South Korea, said the reloca- Party member, had earlier
cate with the public. tion would cause “a big hole also promised to move out of
in national security” amid the Blue House but canceled
The plan drew an immediate North Korean threats be- the plans after failing to find a
backlash from critics of the cause of the hasty movement site for the new office.
relocation plan, who warned of key facilities at the Defense
that a hasty movement of top room are not in the same personnel would be moved Ministry compound. He said Yoon said he was aware of
government offices would building where the president in phases to a war command some Seoul residents will also concerns but said if he starts
undermine South Korea’s works and are hundreds of center on the outskirts of likely suffer “immense dam- his term at the Blue House,
national security, require ex- meters (yards) apart. Some Seoul. age” in their property rights which critics have called “a
cessive spending and violate former officials said they because of expected govern- symbol of imperial power,” it
property rights of residents sometimes used bicycles or Yoon said a massive public ment-imposed restrictions will become harder to move
in the new presidential office cars to visit the president. park will be set up near the on developments in the areas out.
area. new presidential office and near the new office.
Yoon told a televised news ordinary citizens will be able “I know relocating the presi-
Relocating the presidential conference Sunday that he to look at his office at a close “Is it appropriate to unilater- dential office isn’t an easy
office was one of President- chose the Defense Ministry distance. He said he also plans ally push for the relocation of thing. But if I back down on
elect Yoon Suk Yeol’s main compound because it’s al- to establish a press center and the Blue House and the De- a promise with the people
campaign promises. The ready equipped with security- meet journalists frequently. fense Ministry, which would (on the relocation) again, no
conservative former top pros- related command facilities. determine national security other future president would
ecutor whose single five-year He said his team drooped According to Yoon’s plans, and citizens’ property rights, attempt to do it,” Yoon said.
term begins on May 10 said other sites because of incon- the current Blue House will without asking the pub- “I’ve made this decision for
the location and design of the veniences to the public by be open to the public as a lic opinions?” Yun said. He the future of the country.”
Blue House have fed criti- presidential security. park on his inauguration day. urged the president-elect to
cism that South Korean lead- He said he’ll collect public cancel the relocation. Yoon said the relocation
ers are cut off from the public Yoon said he’ll begin his term opinions to choose the name would cost about 50 billion
and wield excessive power. at the new office. He said of the new office. A group of 11 former heads won ($41 million). Some
Defense Ministry officials of the Joint Chiefs of Staff critics earlier said it would
At the Blue House com- would be moved to the Joint Critics of Yoon’s plan have conveyed to Yoon’s transi- cost up to 1 trillion won
pound, offices for presiden- Chiefs of Staff building at called on him not to rush tion team a statement oppos- ($825 million), an estimate
tial advisers and the press the compound, and that JCS the relocation, saying other ing the relocation. They said Yoon called “groundless.”

Yemen rebels launch barrage of strikes on Saudi sites

(AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels un- Amin H. Nasser told reporters the at- renewed anxieties about global sup- mission said.
leashed one of their most intense bar- tacks had no impact on oil supplies, ply shortages and soaring oil prices.
rages of drone and missile strikes on the Saudi energy ministry acknowl- The White House condemned the at-
Saudi Arabia’s critical energy facilities edged that a drone strike targeting Aramco, also known as the Saudi tacks, blaming Iran for supplying the
on Sunday, sparking a fire at one site the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Arabian Oil Co., released its annual Houthis with missile and drone parts,
and temporarily cutting oil produc- Company caused “a temporary re- earnings after weeks of intense vola- as well as training and expertise.
tion at another. duction in the refinery’s production.” tility in energy markets triggered by
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The Saudi-led military coalition re-
The salvo marked a serious escalation The disruption, as oil prices spike in ported aerial strikes on a range of fa-
of rebel attacks on the kingdom as an already-tight energy market, “will The international oil benchmark cilities: an Aramco liquified gas plant
the war in Yemen rages into its eighth be compensated for from the inven- Brent crude spiked over $107 on in the Red Sea port of Yanbu, an oil
year and peace talks stall. tory,” the ministry said, without elab- Sunday after nearly hitting a peak of storage plant in Jiddah, a desalina-
orating. $140 earlier this month. Saudi Arabia tion facility in Al-Shaqeeq on the Red
The attacks did not cause casualties, and the United Arab Emirates have Sea coast and an Aramco oil facility
the Saudi-led military coalition fight- Another aerial attack later in the day so far resisted Western appeals to in- in the southern border town of Jizan,
ing in Yemen said, but struck sites struck a fuel tank at an Aramco distri- crease oil production to offset the loss among others.
belonging to one of the world’s most bution station in the port city of Jid- of Russian oil as gasoline prices sky-
important energy companies and dah and ignited a fire. rocket. The extent of damage on Saudi infra-
damaged civilian vehicles and homes. structure remained unclear, and the
The coalition also said it destroyed a The relentless wave of strikes re- Yehia Sarie, a spokesman for Yemen’s ministry said only the Yanbu refin-
remotely piloted boat packed with ex- vealed the expanding reach and pre- Iran-backed Houthis, said the rebels ery saw a temporary drop in output.
plosives dispatched by the Houthis in cision of the rebels and the persistent had launched “a wide and large mili- A joint venture between Aramco and
the busy southern Red Sea. gaps in the kingdom’s air defenses. A tary operation” in retaliation for the China, the $10 billion Yanbu Aramco
sophisticated strike in 2019 on Aram- Saudi-led “aggression and blockade” Sinopec Refining Company on the
Hours after oil giant Aramco’s CEO co oil facilities knocked out half the that has turned much of Yemen into Red Sea pumps 400,000 barrels of oil
kingdom’s oil production and threat- a wasteland. a day.
ened to ignite a regional crisis — an
attack that the U.S. and Riyadh later The escalation followed a flurry of di- The Saudi Press Agency shared pho-
alleged came from Iran. plomacy over the weekend in Oman’s tos of firetrucks dousing leaping
capital of Muscat. The U.N. special flames with water and a trail of rub-
The attacks on Sunday came as Sau- envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, ble wrought by shrapnel that crashed
di Arabia’s state-backed Aramco, met with the chief Houthi negotia- through ceilings and pocked apart-
the world’s largest oil company, an- tor and Omani officials to discuss “a ment walls. Other images showed
nounced its profits surged 124% in possible truce during the holy month wrecked cars and giant craters in the
2021 to $110 billion, a jump fueled by of Ramadan” in early April, the U.N. ground.