Page 11 - Aruba Today
P. 11
WORLD NEWS A11
Monday 4 January 2016
North Korea leader Hong Kong unsettled over 5 missing booksellers
talks war but doesn’t KELVIN CHAN Ho said that one possible executives and dissidents aison Office on Sunday
Associated Press explanation for the disap- to be detained for lengthy to demand information
comment on nukes HONG KONG (AP) — Hong pearances was that the periods by the authorities about Lee, Mighty Cur-
Kong pro-democracy law- publishing company was or vanish without anyone rent’s chief editor. Lee, 65,
KIM TONG-HYUNG makers said Sunday that being pressured to scrap claiming responsibility, but is also one of the compa-
Associated Press they will press the govern-
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ment for answers after a A protester holds a photo of missing bookseller Lee Bo during a protest outside the Liaison of the
— North Korean leader fifth employee of a publish- Central People’s Government in Hong Kong, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Hong Kong pro-democracy
Kim Jong Un said in an an- ing company specializing lawmakers say they’ll press the government for answers after a fifth employee of a publisher spe-
nual New Year’s speech in books critical of main- cializing in books critical of China’s ruling communists went missing.
this weekend that he was land China’s leadership
ready for war if provoked went missing. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)
by “invasive” outsiders, but Lawmaker Albert Ho said
he stayed away from past the city was “shocked and plans for an upcoming the disappearances are ny’s major shareholders,
threats involving the coun- appalled” by the disap- book rumored to be about unprecedented in Hong the South ChinaMorning
try’s nuclear weapons and pearance of Lee Bo. Like an old “girlfriend or mis- Kong and have shocked Post reported.
long-range missile ambi- the four others who have tress” of Chinese President the city’s publishing indus- The company’s co-owner,
tions. disappeared in recent Xi Jinping. try. Gui Minhai, is also among
His comments stuck to months, Lee is associated It’s not uncommon in main- A few dozen protesters those missing, as are three
well-worn propaganda with publisher Mighty Cur- land China for company marched to Beijing’s Li- staff members..q
meant to lift his image for rent.
the elite residents of one While there’s been no of-
of the world’s poorest, ficial word on what hap-
most closed countries, and pened to the five missing
could be read as an at- people, Ho told reporters
tempt to keep ties with ri- that it appears their disap-
vals Washington and Seoul pearances are linked to
from getting worse so he the publishing company’s
can try to turn around a books.
miserable economy and “From the available infor-
further solidify his leader- mation surrounding the dis-
ship. appearance of Mr. Lee Bo
“We will continue to work and his partners earlier, we
patiently to achieve have strong reason to be-
peace on the Korean Pen- lieve that Mr. Lee Bo was
insula and regional stabil- probably kidnapped and
ity. But if invasive outsiders then smuggled back to the
and provocateurs touch mainland for political inves-
us even slightly, we will not tigation,” Ho said.
be forgiving in the least
and sternly answer with a China rejects Vietnam protest over sea flight test
merciless, holy war of jus-
tice,” said Kim, who wore DIDI TANG “Vietnam resolutely pro- “Relevant activity falls com- which it built airfields, radar
thick black-rimmed glasses Associated Press tests Chinese above- pletely within China’s sov- installations and docking
that continued his efforts BEIJING (AP) — China re- said action and demand ereignty,” Hua said in a facilities. As with most of
to mimic the style favored jected a protest from Viet- that China immediately statement. “The Chinese its policy in the South Chi-
by his late grandfather, be- nam over a flight test it has stop, not repeat similar ac- side will not accept the un- na Sea, Beijing has re-
loved national founder Kim conducted on a new air- tions,” he said in a state- founded accusations from mained opaque about its
Il Sung. strip on a man-made island ment. the Vietnamese side.” plans for the island airstrips.
While largely repeating the in the South China Sea, say- In a response this weekend, China has become more Beijing insists its island build-
daily propaganda in state- ing it is part of China’s terri- Chinese Foreign Ministry assertive in pressing its ing works are justified and
controlled media, Kim’s tory. spokeswoman Hua Chu- claims to the South Chi- don’t constitute a threat
words will be pored over by Vietnam Foreign Ministry nying said the test flight on na Sea islands, an archipel- to stability and freedom of
analysts for hints about the spokesman Le Hai Binh said the newly built airstrip on Fi- ago rich in natural resourc- navigation. The U.S. and
country’s intentions for the that the test flight violated ery Cross Reef in the Spratly es that is the focal point of its regional allies have ex-
coming year. There is little Vietnam’s sovereignty, Islands was carried out to rival claims by neighboring pressed concern that Chi-
public information about breached mutual under- find out if the new airfield governments. na’s robust assertion of its
the inner workings and pol- standing and hurt the bilat- met the standards for civil China has recently piled claims has aggravated
icy goals of North Korea’s eral relations. aviation. sand on coral reefs atop of tensions.q
government, which con-
siders democratic South
Korea and its ally the Unit-
ed States its enemies and
is pursuing a long-range
missile that could carry a
nuclear warhead to Ameri-
ca’s mainland.q
