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NORTH KOREA HAS detained another US citizen for committing “hostile acts,” it said, its second arrest of an American in a fortnight with tensions high between Pyongyang and Washington.
The arrest of Kim Hak-Song means that the North now is holding four US citizens, with the two countries at loggerheads over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile ambitions.
Kim was detained yesterday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. “A relevant institution is now conducting detailed investigation into his crimes,” it added.
The two-paragraph report gave no further details of the latest arrest.
But it said Kim had been working for the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) — an institution founded by evangelical Christians from overseas and opened in 2010, which is known to have a number of American faculty members. Pupils are generally children from the North’s elite.
A State Department official in Washington issued a terse comment about the American’s reported detention.
“We are aware of reports that a US citizen was detained in North Korea,” the statement said.
“The security of US citizens is one of the Department’s highest priorities. When a US citizen is reported to be detained in North Korea, we work with the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which serves as the United States’ Protecting Power in North Korea,” the State Department official said, adding that no additional comment was being offered “due to privacy considerations.”
Kim is the second of the university’s personnel to have been detained in as many weeks.
Accounting professor Kim Sang-Duk, or Tony Kim, also a US citizen, was held on April 22, the North confirmed last week, for trying to “overturn” the regime.
He was detained at the capital’s airport as he tried to leave the country after teaching for several weeks at the university.
KCNA said he had been held for “committing criminal acts of hostility aimed to overturn the DPRK,” using an abbreviation for the country’s official name.
Using similar phrasing to Stoday’s dispatch, it added that Kim was “under detention by a relevant law enforcement body which is conducting detailed investigation into his crimes.”
PUST officials could not immediately be reached for comment in connection with Saturday’s arrest.
In a statement in late April the university said Tony Kim’s arrest was “not connected in any way with the work of PUST.”
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‘Enda Kenny twice said that the general election will be held in “early 2016″ in the Dáil today.’
Right so, November 2015 it is…..
Maybe he expects such an inconclusive result in November that we will be heading back to the polls in the new year…
I don’t believe a word and neither do the legal experts.
@ Christy: Stephen Donnelly just gave an outstanding contribution in the Dail on Fennelly. You can rewind to it at the following link….
http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/watchlisten/live-flashplayer/daileireann/
Personally convinced he’ll go in November; Enda’s an idiot who thinks he’s clever so he’ll try call a snap election to wrong foot the opposition before being stashed away by his party who are terrified of more embarrassment that seems to follow Enda everywhere
FG would probably get a majority if they went to the polls now.
SF are very skilled in mudslinging. FG shouldn’t risk 6 months of constant attack from the party with nothing to lose.
You can be sure a date has been long picked and settled within the circle. The fact Kenny has thrown it out there now means he’ll expect to be further quizzed on it i the short term, as will all senior cabinet members themselves. We should know the date within a fortnight.
“A choice between Government or Chaos”…Grand, so I guess it won’t be Fine Gael/Labour in Government then!
Labour certainly want their cake and eat it. Put it to a poll and let the people decide when they want an election before or after Christmas, as it appears most people want the election sooner to get it over and done with……
@Chris Kirk: “Labour” will soon discover that their cake is a turd!
Can’t come soon enough. Bye bye enda
I’d say it’s November so.
Unfortunatly Angry squirrel or wishes to say bye bye to enda aren’t going to be granted. There is already an upturn in the polls, and with the budget coming up and the few pennies that they’ll throw to the public , they will be voted back in by the fools of this Country.
they might pull a quick one after the budget with all those carrots in it and call a GE,
That man couldn’t give a straight answer if his life depended on it.
True, we’ll be glad to see the back of the fascists. Look at the arrogance of FG still trying to subjugate people with the high Garda presence at Irish Water installations, particularly in Waterford today. Also at the opening of the Dail, where a certain Provider of Barriers had indeed provided barriers. The illuminous, rather well fed presence behind the barriers, were taxpayers’ own.
So Fine Gael logic is, although democratically elected, when they no longer have mandate, they will retain power by force. They may have won the vote of no confidence in the Taoiseach, as so many rats sticking together within the confines of LH. However, they would not perform any such feat outside their barricaded temporary seat of office.
Who do you think should go into government then?
“Tánaiste Joan Burton insisted she had full confidence in both Kenny and the Attorney General Máire Whelan, who changed her evidence to the commission during its inquiry.”
Says a lot about Burton being there just to stuff her pockets like the rest of the Labour leadership, Howlin, Rabbitte, Gilmore and Kelly….nothing else matters except to get the noses in the trough.
How ordinary members of Labour put up with this shower of blueshirt wearing pocket stuffers in their midst is just mind boggling.
Ruari Quinn: ‘The reason Labour are so good at capitalism is because we’re against it’. My sides are splitting you glib little rodent you.
That’s not what he said at all. But good look fighting a strawman.
‘Joan Burton has said it is Labour’s preference that the government go its full term and the election is held next year.’ Clutching at straws Joan. You’ll always have your pension to console you in any case.
It matters not won’t be voting for them again whenever it is. Don’t care what they give away in the budget as it’s only a fraction of what they took to pay Nonnan and his German bond holding gambling buddies.
“This motion of confidence also gives the House the opportunity to debate the merits of those who will put themselves before the electorate in early 2016.” That’s not really what it’s about though is it Enda? Who do you honestly think you’re codding?
History has shown us that ordinary Labour supporters have no problem
with the blue shirts , if they see a few cabinet seats for their ex ira ex sinn
Fein the workers party . One good deed deserves another , the ordinary
Blue shifters didn’t demand weapon disposal from the SF Workers Party
and welcomed them into Government as long as they became bluer than
blue .
This goverment is utter chaos . They won’t even let Kenny on live debates . What does that say . They won’t even answer questions put to them they will waffle on well Fianna Fáil done this they did thisc4.5 years ago . Bring on election sooner better . I want a goverment not run by fg
Crooks the lot of them. I’m going to make a new nation, with blackjack, and hookers. Actually, screw the blackjack
And screw the hookers!!
The national flag could be a silhouette of you snorting coke from a hookers buttocks :)
Their strategy seems to be to keep the focus all on the economy, rather hoping nobody will notice two things:
1. All recessions end, and the only economic part the govt has direct control over, the budget, as we can see with the DART decision, they’ve made a turn back to the short term election buying days
2. They followed FF policy with the economy (in fact a far more regressive version of it according to the OECD), which they directly ran against, and now that it’s working they are taking credit for it while at the same time saying you can’t trust FF on the economy…so which is it? You can’t take credit for implementing their policies AND say they were crap at the economy…they’re probably hoping nobody notices this contradiction
3. All the promises they broke, universal healthcare, graduate tax, stimulus package…
You’re conveniently forgetting one little fact, it was Fianna Fail who destroyed our economy.
We’ve been reminded of that fact since FG came into power ..
You’re conveniently forgetting one other little fact Nicholas……..FG made banking debt…sovereign debt.
So now, we have the ECB forcing us to destroy/deleting an average €2 billion a year of Irish taxpayers money for the next 40 years to remove the digital money they made us create to pump into the known zombie banks Anglo/IN.
wouldn’t be surprised if they find a way of shoving the VW cost our way too
The Balllyhea people have a good blog about this. Google chattering magpie blog. We all didn’t go mad with anglo as they werent a mortgage bank. Massive fail for the government not to negotiate a write off here in a europe of quantitative easing.
Could buy 12 darts with that
Maximum term should be 3 years. 5 years far too long.
I’m going on a major piss up when FG/Lab are just a memory,ill be the man with two pints in me hand
You’ll be lucky to have the money for two pints by the time FG/Lab are through with you.
‘In early 2016, the people of Ireland will have a clear choice. A choice between government or chaos.’ We have actually hit record high’s of homelessness and he is saying this? The man’s arrogance and general ignorance is outstanding. It’s absolutely infuriating!
Yeah, hanging on by teeth and fingernails……….. could we expect any less?
Watching the dail , its pathetic listening to government. They are like robots reading from a script. At least the opposition from all sides is showing passion . how deluded do you have to be to say your doing a fantastic job and enda Kenny is best taoiseach ever. When you have a homeless crisis. Third world health services, elderly having to decide soon food or heat, people with disabilities having to stage a 72 hour protest, schools underfunded, roads potholes galore, services cut off closed . rich getting richer, Irish water. Inquiry after inquiry. Fennelly , sitting on Moriarty, penalty points scandal. Siteserv, irbc , NAMA.
This goverment is organised chaos . They can’t Even let Enda on tv to do live debates , that’s chaos , homeless , Irish water , political policing . All chaos . I’ll vot for a goverment next time & not chaos like Fine Gael
And Joan looses the plot in front of a camera…
We want you out NOW! What part of that can you not understand? You are a disgrace to our country. You’ve turned our Democracy into Fascism. I hope that Karma and History treat you dearly, you horrible horrible Parasite, Mr Kenny!!!
Only Enda could make chaos seem attractive.
What eejit would vote for those eejits again…
Always love Edna’s facial expressions – he wouldn’t be good at poker – ha ha !
Apparently when he’s bluffing he bleeds from the eyes, or so I’ve heard ;)
@ Kathleen Kavanagh: I’d like to see his facial expressions with a different kind of poker!
“No intention to put pressure on Commissioner to resign”
He was told on the night that sending Purcel to Callinan’s home was wrong.
The man is either very stupid if he thought resignation was not the likely outcome or he is a liar.
@M Bowe: No either or about it, he is definitely both.
Cowboys every last one off them, I haven’t much faith for the political system here any more it’s corrupt through and through
Kenny is merely a puppet on on a string hasn’t a clue what he’s at just going on word from his advisers
November, December, January, February, March. Once he’s gone I’m not bothered which one he picks.
Reminded my local TDs both FG and lab that if they supported Kenny my prospective vote was gone..looking forward to the same individuals reaction when they call pre election and are reminded..
“In early 2016 the people of Ireland will have a clear choice. A choice between government and chaos.” I notice Endof was careful not to say which choice FG was!!
I’m sick of this nonsense. I’m pretty sure the Irish people should know exactly when the election is to held. We shouldn’t need hints. Tell us when it is and stick to it.
Userla Hannigan seems to lean towards F G today but it doesn’t surprise me denis and Enda are great friends and he is (denis ) part of TV 3 now. I always looked at TV3 but now its over Corrie ITV i never look at Eastenders on RTE it will have to be English Channels all the way . Im sick to the teeth of this Country No one and i mean no one in the Media tells it the way it is. “Whisper” cos DOB might be listening or reading. We are a sad Country, especially when a Romanian man gets away with drunk driving because it wasn’t written in Irish . I’ve heard it all. I hope the next time he gets drunk and drives he doesn’t kill someone,and if he does not only he should be put in the Dock but the solicitor and the Judge
I bet you he wasn’t paying his solicitor himself either. Hadn’t heard he was Romanian. Just adds to the irony. But as least Pascal acted quickly. Maybe too little too late for his seat?
When are we going to see the back of this idiot??
Chaos please.
Relax people of Ireland. Your chance will come to wipe this Puppet government off the map..
Tomorrow would be late enough
He is a LIAR.
Check out private hospitals stuffed to the gills with HSE patients who have been on waiting lists for years just because we have an election coming at us.
It’ll be early March, too much IW heat atm.
If the current TheJournal “Who would you vote for” poll is anything to go by, with Fine Gael and more particularly Labour will put the election off to the last possible day:
Sinn Fein:23%
Fine Gael: 19%
Independents: 11%
Finna Fail: 10%
Social democrats: 8%
AAA/PBP: 4%
Labour: 2%
Greens: 1%
Renua: 1%
Based on this the most likely makeup of the next government would be:
Sinn Fein/Fianna Fail/AAA&PBP/some independents
Greetings Taoiseach Adams
What a thought!
That’s a poll of Journalistos.
In the real world Sinn Fein are about 8%-10%
The sooner the better . I only hope that people have long memories. They are hearthless.
corruption at its best.
Already told its the 24th of February . As said by some fog backbencher
You know your country is completely screwed beyond repair when the only credible parties remaining to vote for are AAA/PBP
“In early 2016, the people of Ireland will have a clear choice. A choice between government or chaos.”
Hmmm…maybe Ireland should be the first country to give anarchy a try. People are too afraid of being judged by their neighbours to try anything too mad with unlimited restrictions.
Turkeys voting for Christmas….not
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