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WORLD NEWS Thursday 13 december 2018

Korean border troops verify removal of each other’s posts

By AHN YOUNG-JOON North Korean guard post mantled and whether all
HYUNG-JIN KIM Wednesday morning and a troops, weapons and oth-
Associated Press North Korean team come er equipment have been
INSIDE THE DEMILITARIZED to a South Korean guard withdrawn, according to
ZONE (AP) — Dozens of post later in the day. Seoul’s Defense Ministry.
North and South Korean Seven helmeted South Ko- Hours later, seven North Ko-
soldiers crossed over the rean soldiers wearing back- rean soldiers clad in olive-
world’s most heavily armed packs, one carrying a cam- green uniforms crossed the
border Wednesday as they era and another a cam- same borderline and were
inspected the sites of their corder, approached the then escorted by South Ko-
rival’s front-line guard posts line separating the northern rean troops to the concrete
to verify they’d been re- and southern sides of the and steel debris of a de-
moved, part of inter-Ko- DMZ. North Korean troops stroyed South Korean post.
rean engagement efforts then walked in a row down North Korean teams also
that come amid stalled a hill to meet them. The sol- visited 10 other South Ko-
U.S.-North Korea nuclear South Korean army soldiers leave for the North to inspect the diers from the rival Koreas rean sites. South Korea’s lib-
disarmament talks. dismantled North Korean guard post in the central section of the exchanged handshakes eral president, Moon Jae-
Soldiers from the two Koreas inter-Korean border in Cheorwon, Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018. before moving up the hill in, the driving force behind
exchanged cigarettes and Associated Press together to go to the dis- the current engagement
chatted as they inspected The inspections Wednes- ties from last year, when mantled North Korean effort, watched parts of the
the dismantlement or disar- day were mostly symbolic North Korea tested a series guard post. Other groups of verification broadcast live
mament of 22 guard posts — the removals will leave of increasingly powerful South Korean soldiers simul- at an underground bunker
— 11 from each country South Korea with about 50 weapons and threatened taneously visited 10 other in Seoul. Moon called the
— inside the Demilitarized other DMZ posts and North Seoul and Washington with North Korean guard posts. work “a new milestone”
Zone that forms their 248-ki- Korea with 150, according war. A small group of jour- They inspected whether in inter-Korean history that
lometer (155-mile) -long, to defense experts in South nalists was allowed to enter the guard posts and any was “unimaginable in the
4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide Korea — but they mark an the zone to watch a South underground structures past,” according to his
border. extraordinary change in Korean team leave for a have been completely dis- office.q

Indian Prime Minister Modi’s party loses key state elections

By ASHOK SHARMA the Congress party under the main threat to Modi.
Associated Press Rahul Gandhi, the 48-year- The BJP attributed the de-
NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian old scion of the Nehru-Gan- feat in two of the three
Prime Minister Narendra dhi family, who took over states to an anti-incum-
Modi’s Hindu nationalist as party president from his bency factor, as it had
party has suffered an em- mother, Sonia Gandhi, a ruled Madhya Pradesh and
barrassing defeat in three year ago. He had cam- Chhattisgarh for the past 15
state elections in its Hindu paigned extensively for his years without a break.
stronghold just months be- party in the three states. In- Rahul Gandhi told reporters
fore national elections. dia’s national elections are that people voted against
According to results an- due by April. Modi came to the BJP because it failed to
nounced by the Election power in 2014 after his BJP create millions of jobs for
Commission on Wednes- wrested power from the young people as promised
day, the opposition Con- Congress party supporters hold a cut-out of party President Congress party. by Modi and deal with un-
gress party was a clear win- Rahul Gandhi and celebrate outside the party headquarters in Modi is still the front-runner rest by poor farmers across
ner in Chhattisgarh state, New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018. for the next elections. But the country over the gov-
and fell one seat short of a Associated Press his party’s defeat in the ernment’s failure to provide
majority in both Rajasthan is set to rule all three states, was spread over the past three state polls is expect- them higher prices for their
and Madhya Pradesh. With replacing Modi’s Bharatiya two weeks. The setback to ed to bring disparate op- produce and a waiver on
a regional party offering Janata Party. the BJP is expected to re- position parties together their farm loans to alleviate
support, the Congress party Voting in the three states vive the political fortunes of with the Congress party as hardships. q