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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 13 March 2019

China says Muslim 'training' centers will slowly disappear

By YANAN WANG At a news conference on work skills.
BEIJING (AP) — Heavily the sidelines of the annual Zakir said the camps do not
guarded internment camps meeting of China's cere- target any particular faith,
for Muslims which China monial legislature, Xinjiang though religious activities
calls vocational training Gov. Shohrat Zakir declined are banned in the camps.
centers will gradually dis- to disclose the number of Ex-detainees say the over-
appear if there comes a what he called "trainees." whelming majority of those
time that "society does not But he said the figure is "far in the camps are Muslim.
need" them, regional au- less" than 1 million and de- "We fully ensure freedom of
thorities said Tuesday. scribed extensive reports religion," including accom-
The camps in the far-west on conditions in the camps modating Muslim "trainees'"
Xinjiang region have elicit- as "pure fabrications." desire for halal food, Zakir
ed an international outcry, While China initially denied said, adding that they can
with former inmates de- the existence of the system request time off and go
scribing harsh conditions in of internment camps, in home on weekends, "like
which Muslim minorities are the face of growing glob- many boarding schools."
subject to political indoc- Chen Quanguo, center, Communist Party secretary of China's al condemnation it now Like his immediate prede-
trination and psychologi- Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, gestures while speaking says it has established "vo- cessors as Xinjiang gover-
during a group discussion meeting on the sidelines of China's
cal torture. Human rights National People's Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the Peo- cational training centers" nor, Zakir is from the region's
groups, researchers and ple in Beijing, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. where people vulnerable native Uighur ethnic group,
the U.S. government esti- Associated Press to the lure of religious ex- providing a public face for
mate around 1 million peo- tremism are enrolled in free the government and its
ple from the predominantly ethnic groups are held in spread throughout the vast legal and language classes claims that Xinjiang is an
Muslim Uighur and Kazakh a network of compounds region. and can learn practical autonomous region. q

Seoul: North Korea launch would be catastrophe for diplomacy

By HYUNG-JIN KIM satellite launches. "I wonder if North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Some experts say these should avoid" such an ac-
North Korea must not use a suggest North Korea may tion, Moon said.
possible rocket launch as be assembling a long- He said both North Korea
leverage in negotiations range rocket to carry out and the U.S. must restrain
with the U.S, a South Ko- a banned satellite launch themselves to keep diplo-
rean presidential adviser in the wake of last month's macy alive and start unof-
said Tuesday, saying such North Korea-U.S. summit in ficial contacts to resume
a move could be "cata- Hanoi that ended without talks. He said the Hanoi
strophic" for global diplo- any agreement. summit showed how "diffi-
macy on its nuclear pro- Moon Chung-in, a retired cult" and "painful" it would
gram. university professor who be to achieve denuclear-
U.S.-based websites re- is now a special adviser ization on the Korean Pen-
cently released satellite to President Moon Jae-in, insula.
photographs indicating told a panel discussion that The Hanoi summit fell apart
North Korea has restored North Korea using a rocket due to disputes over how
structures at its long-range launch or other nuclear much sanctions reliefs Moon Chung-in, a special adviser to South Korean President
Moon Jae-in, speaks during a forum hosted by the Kwanhun
rocket launch facility that activities as leverage in ne- North Korea could win in Club in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 12, 2019.
it dismantled last year at gotiations would be a "bad return for limited nuclear Associated Press
the start of diplomacy with move." disarmament steps. Wash-
the United States. Other Moon Chung-in said such a ington and Pyongyang ac- hopes for future negotia- the second summit be-
satellite imageries show in- North Korean move could cuse each other of causing tions. No official meeting tween North Korean leader
creased vehicle activities eventually cause a "cata- the summit's breakdown, between the countries has Kim Jong Un and President
at a separate North Korean strophic" consequence or but both sides have avoid- yet to be publicly sched- Donald Trump since they
facility used to manufac- a "big disaster" in the U.S.- ed harsh criticism against uled. met for the first time in Sin-
ture missiles, and rockets for North Korea diplomacy. each other and expressed The Feb. 27-28 summit was gapore last June.q