North

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Dean Carpentier popped up with the biggest swing of his life, and the Trojans won their biggest game in more than two decades.

USC baseball stormed back to defeat No. 5 overall seed North Carolina 9-5 in Game 1 of the Chapel Hill Super Regional, a loud start to the program’s first appearance on this stage since 2005.

Carpentier smoked a go-ahead grand slam off North Carolina (48-12-1) reliever Walker McDuffie in the sixth inning, turning a 5-2 deficit into a 6-5 lead and shutting down a previously charged-up Boshamer Stadium. The swing was Carpentier’s first career grand slam and just his 10th home run in his 132-game collegiate career, the defining moment of the day as USC (48-16) tied its largest comeback victory of the season.

“I was sitting on a slider,” Carpentier said. “He’s a slider guy. I got a good pitch to hit, put a good swing on it and it found a way out of here.”

Ace Mason Edwards struggled through his shortest outing of the season, yielding three earned runs in just three innings with four walks. But the Trojan bullpen picked him up, and kept the game close enough for the offense to rally. Chase Herrell, Ben Cushnie and Andrew Johnson gave up just one run over six innings, with Johnson retiring the first eight batters he faced.

USC’s Adrian Lopez (5) celebrates during Game 1 of an NCAA super regional against North Carolina on Friday in Chapel Hill, N.C.

(Laura Wolff/For The Times)

“He’s done that now a couple of times with the bases loaded where he strikes out the side and gets out of it,” USC coach Andy Stankiewicz said of Edwards’ first inning. “It’s in there. That was huge. It was a big momentum swing to get out of that. Unfortunately it’s taxing though; it made him jump up in his pitch count a little bit.”

His successful but ultimately draining first inning led to UNC scoring four in the next two innings, knocking the Trojans into a huge hole and forcing its bullpen to stem the tide. But eventual winning pitcher Herrell picked up two innings with just one earned run given up. Cushnie retired the only batter he faced and the offense went to work from there.

“The job that Chase Herrell did, the job he did in College Station, it’s two back-to-back outings where he has been tremendous for us,” Stankiewicz said. “It’s always Mason and Grant [Govel] — which is great, they deserve all the recognition — but there’s more guys down there that are doing it.”

With the lead and all of the momentum after Carpentier’s grand slam, Stankiewicz pushed his chips to the middle of the table knowing the importance of winning the opener of a best-of-three series. He brought usual Game 3 starter Johnson in out of the bullpen, and he delivered a sensational performance.

Johnson retired the first eight batters he faced and ended up getting the final 11 outs of the game with just two singles allowed, slamming the door shut for his first save of the season.

“You saw the job that he did over in College Station,” Stankiewicz said of Johnson. “It was a big moment, and we needed that again today. He throws strikes, he’s unafraid, he attacks the strike zone and we felt like he was going to make the pitches.”

Johnson’s dominance meant the go-ahead grand slam would have been enough, but USC added three more runs in the seventh. Isaac Cadena drove one in with an RBI groundout, Jack Basseer plated one on on a fielder’s choice and Andrew Lamb — who started the scoring for USC with a solo home run off Ryan Lynch back in the third inning — tacked on one more with a perfectly executed squeeze bunt.

The Trojans have outscored opponents 64-19 during their five-game NCAA tournament winning streak. And are one win away from advancing to the College World Series for the first time since 2001. Game 2 is set for 11 a.m. PDT Saturday on ESPN.

SEOUL, June 5 (UPI) — Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea next week, state media in both countries reported Friday, marking his first trip to the isolated state since 2019.

Xi will make the visit on June 8-9 at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency also reported the upcoming trip, but neither outlet provided further details.

The trip will be Xi’s second to North Korea. He last made a two-day state visit in June 2019.

It comes amid a stretch of renewed high-level engagement between the longtime allies. Kim traveled to Beijing in September for a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, where he held summit talks with Xi.

China has long been North Korea’s largest trading partner, and international observers say it continues to help Pyongyang skirt punishing economic sanctions. Ties had appeared to cool in recent years, however, as North Korea deepened military cooperation with Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

In exchange for providing troops and munitions to Russia, North Korea is believed to be receiving economic support and advanced military technology for its weapons programs, reducing its dependence on China and giving Kim greater leverage in dealings with Beijing.

The announcement of Xi’s visit comes one day after North Korea unveiled a new uranium enrichment facility used to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons, with Kim calling for an “exponential” increase in the country’s nuclear arsenal.

The visit also comes amid growing uncertainty over Beijing’s approach to North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

After Xi met with U.S. President Donald Trump last month, the White House said the two leaders had reaffirmed their shared commitment to the denuclearization of North Korea. China’s Foreign Ministry, however, said only that the leaders had “exchanged views” on the Korean Peninsula.

Some analysts have suggested that China increasingly views North Korea’s nuclear capabilities as a “geopolitical asset” that helps constrain Washington as competition between the two powers intensifies.

The visit will be closely watched in Seoul, where President Lee Jae Myung has sought to ease tensions with Pyongyang since taking office last year.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Thursday proposed a four-way dialogue involving the two Koreas, the United States and China aimed at establishing a peace regime on the peninsula.

South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Friday that it hopes Xi’s visit will “play a constructive role in addressing issues related to the Korean Peninsula,” according to Yonhap News Agency.

June 4 (Asia Today) — South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Thursday proposed resuming four-way talks among South Korea, North Korea, the United States and China to help establish peace in Northeast Asia.

Chung, who is visiting Mongolia, also called for expanding the framework to include Mongolia, Japan, Russia and other regional countries. He made the proposal during a special address at the 11th Ulaanbaatar Dialogue in Mongolia.

Chung said Northeast Asia needs to build a new “peace identity” by restoring trust between South and North Korea and rebuilding peace on the Korean Peninsula.

It was the first visit to Mongolia by a South Korean unification minister. The trip was made at the invitation of the Mongolian government.

The Ulaanbaatar Dialogue is a regular international forum that covers security issues in Northeast Asia. It began in 2014 as a private academic conference and was upgraded in 2017 to a Track 1.5 forum involving government and nongovernment participants. North Korea has not attended the forum since 2019.

On the Korean Peninsula peace process, Chung said, “A four-party dialogue among the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the United States and China is possible.”

“We should expand this framework so that other Northeast Asian countries, including Mongolia, Japan and Russia, can also join,” he said.

Chung also referred to the Sept. 19 Joint Statement adopted during the six-party talks in 2005. He said the six parties had agreed to promote lasting peace and security in Northeast Asia.

“It is time to apply that experience to today’s reality and rekindle the flame of dialogue,” Chung said.

Chung also proposed strengthening cooperation under the Greater Tumen Initiative, a multilateral platform for development and economic cooperation in Northeast Asia.

He called for connecting regional railway networks, including the Trans-Siberian Railway, Trans-China Railway, Trans-Mongolian Railway and a proposed Seoul-Beijing high-speed rail link, with the Arctic shipping route.

“By connecting transportation networks with regional markets and trade flows, we can build an innovative logistics network across Eurasia,” Chung said.

“To turn these ideas into reality, I urge the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to rejoin the Greater Tumen Initiative as a full member,” he said. “They would be the biggest beneficiary of this vision.”

North Korea was an early member of the Greater Tumen Initiative but withdrew in 2009.

Chung said three goals must move forward together: rebuilding trust between the two Koreas, institutionalizing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula and advancing multilateral dialogue in Northeast Asia.

“If these three pillars move forward together, we can build a new peace order across Northeast Asia,” he said.

After his special address, Chung met separately with Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh and President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. Chung left South Korea on Wednesday to attend the forum and is scheduled to return Friday.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260605010001616

June 3 (Asia Today) — Wu’er Kaixi, a former student leader of China’s 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, warned South Koreans on Wednesday not to view North Korea only as a country of the same ethnic people.

“North Koreans are certainly Koreans. They speak the same language and eat the same food,” Wu’er said at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo, one day before the anniversary of the June 4 Tiananmen crackdown. “But they have been affected by the disease of communism, and that influence has seeped into their bones and DNA.”

Wu’er, also known as Uerkesh Davlet, was listed by the club as a former student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen movement for its Wednesday news conference, titled “Tiananmen 37 Years Later.”

Asia Today asked Wu’er about the future of China and what it could mean for the Korean Peninsula, noting China’s influence on the Korean War, the division of the peninsula and North Korea’s nuclear issue.

Wu’er responded by directly addressing North Korea.

“I understand that Koreans dream of unification,” he said. “But that is not simply a matter of meeting lost brothers and sisters again. It is the process of rebuilding half of a country that has been affected by communism.”

Wu’er expressed concern about what he described as a nationalist approach within parts of South Korean society.

“When I talk with friends in Seoul, I often sense conservative and nationalist sentiment,” he said. “I fully understand such feelings because South Korea has faced North Korea’s military threat directly.”

“But South Koreans who enjoy liberal democracy should have a mindset of using that freedom for the freedom of North Koreans,” he said.

Wu’er also warned against accepting North Korean propaganda at face value.

“North Korea’s military threats are calculated actions,” he said. “You should not be misled by the nationalist slogans they put forward.”

He said propaganda is used to control hungry citizens.

“North Koreans are still hungry, but they are ruled by regime propaganda,” Wu’er said.

“North Korea is no longer the North Korea we think of,” he said. “If one day South Koreans have the chance to embrace North Koreans, they will realize they are no longer the brothers and sisters they remember from the past.”

“They may be closer to Russians or Chinese,” he said. “You have to understand how a communist system changes human beings and society.”

Wu’er said South Korea’s government and people should understand the nature of the Chinese Communist Party system when considering North Korea.

During the news conference, Wu’er sharply criticized the Chinese Communist Party, saying many people mistakenly view China as a state driven by nationalism or communist ideology.

“The Chinese Communist Party is simply a criminal group,” he said. “They are not pursuing the interests of the state or the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. They are only interested in maintaining their own power and wealth.”

He dismissed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s slogan of “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” as propaganda meant to deceive the Chinese people.

“The Chinese Communist Party is driven more by interests than ideology,” Wu’er said. “Like a criminal organization seeking more profits, it endlessly tries to expand power and control.”

“To understand China, ask a criminologist rather than an international politics scholar,” he said. “If you approach it through the behavior of a criminal group, you can understand China’s foreign policy much more accurately.”

Wu’er said the Chinese Communist Party “is never satisfied” and urged liberal democracies to respond firmly as Beijing seeks to expand its control and influence.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260603010001047

Manaka Matsukubo finished with a goal and an assist to lead the North Carolina Courage to a 2-1 win over Angel City at BMO Stadium on Sunday.

Matsukubo slipped a ball through to Evelyn Ijeh, who calmly finished to give the Courage a 1-0 lead in the 48th minute. With the goal, Ijeh has landed on the scoresheet in three straight matches.

Three minutes later, Evelyn Shores’ pinpoint cross into the box found the head of Maiara Niehues for the equalizer.

North Carolina retook the lead for good in the 79th with Riley Jackson’s perfectly weighted pass to Matsukubo, who scored her fifth goal of the season.

Iran’s football team still lacks US visas and is not competing on ‘equal terms’, Tehran’s envoy to Mexico says.

Iran’s football team still lacks US visas and is not competing in the World Cup on “equal terms” because of its difficulty in training ahead of the tournament, Tehran’s ambassador to Mexico said on Thursday.

Abolfazl Pasandideh visited the northwestern Mexican border city of Tijuana, where Iranians have relocated their training camp. They were originally planned to be based in Tucson in the US state of Arizona.

The ambassador told a news conference that “the country to the north” – meaning the United States – had not followed through on its responsibility of hosting the Iranian team.

“We don’t know whether or not they’re going to give the players their visas,” he added.

Iran will play their three World Cup group games in two West Coast US cities: Los Angeles and Seattle. The head of the Iranian Football Federation has said there was hope that the players would be granted multiple entry visas.

“We aren’t participating in the World Cup on equal terms,” Pasandideh said.

“We haven’t been able to train our team like they should,” he said, because of the US-Israel war on his country that began on February 28.

On Wednesday, Iranian diplomats visited the stadium where the team is training, a source from Club Tijuana that plays there told the news agency AFP. The diplomats also met with local security officials, the source said.

Iran are due to play in Los Angeles on June 15 against New Zealand, and on June 21, against Belgium. They then play in Seattle against Egypt on June 26.

I CAN’T help but feel like a young Lord Alan Sugar as I negotiate a handmade mug down to half price in one of the most beautiful market streets.

In May sunshine, the glorious blue sky pops off the glistening white walls of the stunning coastal town of Sidi Bou Said in northern Tunisia.

All the buildings are decked out in white and blue, providing a gorgeous visual as the perfect sky kisses the crystal clear, calm Mediterranean sea.

My guide, an affable local named Madhi, tells me the striking colour scheme also helps combat the effects of the incredible heat, which can reach well over 40C in summer, by reflecting away the sun.

Sidi Bou Said is reminiscent of Santorini and symbolic of the blend of cultures that modern-day Tunisia infuses.

It is an Arabic country but there are French and Roman influences too, due to the country’s colonial past.

WAIL OF A TIME

I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

TEMPTED?

Tiny ‘Bali of Europe’ town with stunning beaches, €3 cocktails and £20 flights

Madhi tells me there is a liberal view among many Tunisians as he points out that if one sister decides to wear an Islamic veil, and the other opts for no veil and multiple tattoos, both can expect to be treated respectfully.

Just down the street from Sidi Bou Said, and via Tunisia’s presidential palace no less, are the remarkably well preserved ancient ruins of Carthage.

I marvel at the fact this site isn’t more heaving with visitors, given its historical significance.

Around 2,000 years ago, this was one of the most important sites in the Roman Empire, following a bloody battle between the Romans and the Carthaginians.

Now it offers a brilliant insight into Tunisia’s past, just a 20-minute drive from the country’s capital Tunis.

Rather than stay there, however, we have booked in at the plush five-star Les Orangers Garden Villas and Bungalows, an hour’s drive south in the popular coastal town of Hammamet.

With Enfidha Airport (served by several EasyJet flights from the UK every day including a new route from Newcastle) just 30 minutes away, Hammamet offers an intriguing alternative for tourists.

And our stay at the all-inclusive Les Orangers didn’t disappoint.

The entrance is lined with palm trees and we are greeted by friendly staff bearing mocktails and dates.

Once through reception, we walk out into an enormous courtyard full of plants, seating areas and more palm trees.

There is a gym, two outdoor pools and an indoor one as well as a spa featuring sauna and traditional Tunisian-style hammam with massages available to book.

The hotel has an international buffet restaurant and three a la carte restaurants offering Italian, Tunisian and Asian specialities.

There is also a rooftop tapas bar, beachfront snack bar and an Italian-style deli bar so you’re never short of spots to refuel — plus four bars, including one by the beach.

My spacious modern room, which has a view of the sea so good I can even enjoy it from the shower, came complete with air conditioning and mini bar.

I’ve never felt sand so soft as I walk to my lounger on their private beach.

The sea itself is beautifully clear and the perfect temperature; offering a pleasant shock to the system before settling down and feeling really quite warm.

As I lay back to soak up the sun I can hear German, Italian and French accents but only a few British ones.

I can’t help but feel that we might be missing a trick not flocking here in even greater numbers.

Those that do will enjoy the country’s remarkable food.

For a true taste of authentic Tunisian cuisine we head 15 minutes inland to Douar Laroussi, a family-run farm and restaurant.

Each door has a woman’s name written above it, which Madhi informs us is to stress that the woman is the true boss of each household.

Our host, and his charming aunt Jdidia, greet us warmly as they prepare to show us how their food is made.

Here Jdidia works her magic, and even gets us to join in.

She moulds tabouna bread into shape with her hands before baking it in an outdoor oven.

Next is the couscous, which she masterfully crafts from just semolina and water.

For our starter we mix olive oil made on site with mouth-watering local harissa and our homemade bread, which took barely ten minutes.

After tucking into my divine vegetable couscous I just had to buy some of their olive oil and harissa, I absolutely had to take some back to the UK to share.

In Hammamet itself are two Medinas; the old and the new.

The old, part of a second century fortress looking out over the sea, gives me an opportunity to test my bartering skills again as local Tarek engraves my name into a plate in Arabic.

I don’t quite manage to haggle down to half price this time but I’m happy with my unique souvenir, not to mention this wonderful trip as a whole.

May 20 (Asia Today) — Japan is intensifying efforts to pressure U.S. political leaders and public opinion over the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea, seeking to ensure the matter remains part of future U.S. policy toward Pyongyang.

The campaign reflects growing concern in Tokyo that the abductee issue could be sidelined if Washington resumes negotiations with North Korea focused primarily on nuclear weapons and missile programs.

Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun reported Tuesday that the Japanese government has, since last year, sought meetings with former members of the U.S. Congress and expanded outreach efforts targeting American political and policy circles.

Officials from the Japanese Embassy in Washington have reportedly led the effort, while Tokyo has also engaged experts and opinion leaders with influence over U.S. public discourse. Japan has additionally used opinion advertisements published in The Washington Post as part of its advocacy campaign.

Japan officially recognizes 17 citizens as victims of abduction by North Korea. Pyongyang admitted to abducting Japanese citizens during a summit between the two countries in 2002, and five victims returned to Japan later that year.

However, the fate of the remaining abductees remains unresolved.

The Japanese government has consistently maintained that normalization of diplomatic ties with North Korea cannot proceed without resolution of the abductee issue. Japan’s Foreign Ministry and headquarters for abductee affairs classify the matter as a major issue involving national sovereignty and the safety of citizens.

According to the Sankei report, some U.S. lawmakers questioned why Japan had failed to resolve the issue independently over such a long period.

Japanese officials responded by arguing that the abductee issue is not simply a bilateral dispute but also a broader matter involving human rights and international security.

Tokyo views Washington as essential leverage because North Korea has largely refused direct negotiations with Japan. Japanese officials want to ensure the abductee issue remains included whenever the United States adjusts North Korea policy or enters diplomatic talks with Pyongyang.

Concerns have grown amid speculation that the Trump administration could again pursue direct engagement with North Korea, potentially pushing the abductee issue behind nuclear and missile concerns.

The issue also has parallels in South Korea. According to Seoul’s Ministry of Unification, North Korea is currently believed to be detaining seven South Korean nationals, including missionaries Kim Jung-wook, Kim Kook-kie and Choi Chun-gil, along with four North Korean defectors who later obtained South Korean citizenship.

South Korea also estimates that around 100,000 civilians were abducted during the 1950-53 Korean War. About 82,000 South Korean soldiers were listed as missing after the armistice, while only 8,343 prisoners of war returned through prisoner exchanges.

Despite those figures, the issue has received less sustained public and political attention in South Korea than Japan’s abductee campaign. While Seoul has pursued interagency initiatives and operates awareness campaigns such as the “Three Forget-Me-Nots” project, public focus has remained centered more heavily on nuclear threats, inter-Korean relations and military tensions.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260520010005721

SEOUL, May 18 (UPI) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un convened a meeting with commanding officers from across the country’s armed forces and called for strengthening frontline defenses along the border with South Korea to create an “impregnable fortress,” state-run media reported Monday.

Kim held the meeting at the headquarters of the ruling Workers’ Party Central Committee on Sunday, the official Korean Central News Agency said. It was the first known gathering of all division and brigade commanders since Kim took power in 2011.

Kim called for the “rapid modernization of the military and technical equipment of our army” and stressed the need to adapt military training to the changing nature of modern warfare, KCNA said.

He emphasized the country’s “territorial defense” policy, including “strengthening the first-line units in the southern border and turning the border line into an impregnable fortress,” according to the report.

KCNA said Kim outlined plans to reorganize the military structure and bolster frontline and other major units with upgraded weapons and technology as part of efforts to strengthen deterrence.

Earlier this month, North Korea announced plans to deploy new 155 mm self-propelled howitzers to three battalions assigned to long-range artillery units along the southern border this year.

The meeting comes as Pyongyang hardens its military posture toward Seoul and formally abandons decades-old reunification language.

North Korea recently revised its constitution to remove all references to reunification with South Korea, cementing Kim’s push to redefine inter-Korean ties as relations between two separate states.

The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry assessed Monday that the meeting appeared aimed at encouraging the military while reinforcing ideological discipline and modernization efforts.

“North Korea has adopted a two-state stance, and there appear to be trends in that regard,” ministry spokesman Yoon Min-ho said at a regular press briefing. “We will continue to closely monitor related trends in the future.”

Asked whether the North’s latest moves could escalate the situation along the border, Yoon said Seoul would continue efforts to reduce military tensions and build trust on the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sought to reduce tensions since taking office in June, including by dismantling border propaganda loudspeakers and calling for renewed dialogue, but Pyongyang has largely ignored the overtures while continuing to expand its military capabilities.

On Monday, the Unification Ministry released its annual white paper, which defined Seoul’s new “Korean Peninsula peaceful coexistence policy.”

The policy is based on principles President Lee outlined in August, including respecting North Korea’s system, rejecting unification by absorption and avoiding hostile acts.

The government has commissioned UK Sport to conduct an “initial strategic assessment” into a potential bid for the north of England to host the Olympics and Paralympics in the 2040s.

It said the funding agency would examine whether the UK could host the Games for the first time since London 2012, along with potential cost, socio-economic benefit and any bid’s chance of success.

“For too long we have been told the Olympics is simply too big and too important to be hosted in the north”, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told BBC Sport.

“Not any more. It’s time the Olympics came north and we showed what we can offer to the world.

“We know that we can pull off the most incredible, not just bid, but Olympics. So we’re kick-starting that with a phase-one study about the investment, the resources, the infrastructure, the transport that we’re going to need.”

The findings of UK Sport’s study will determine whether to proceed with a more detailed “technical feasibility study”, with a final decision on any bid resting with the British Olympic Association (BOA).

May 14 (Asia Today) — A North Korean hacking group linked to the country’s military intelligence agency has posed as police investigators, defense officials and North Korea experts in spear phishing attacks targeting South Korean security and policy figures, a cybersecurity company said Thursday.

Genians, a South Korean information security company, said it detected cyberattacks suspected of being linked to APT37, a North Korea-backed hacking group associated with the Reconnaissance General Bureau.

The group is known for cyber espionage targeting people involved in North Korea affairs and for hacking operations aimed at financial gain.

The latest attacks targeted people working in defense, national security and North Korea-related fields. Spear phishing is a targeted hacking method that uses customized messages and information to trick specific individuals, rather than sending generic malicious emails to large groups.

Hackers used personal details to build trust

According to Genians, the hackers used a range of impersonation tactics to lower victims’ guard, including posing as police officers, defense officials, airline ticket issuers and North Korea research groups.

In one message, the hackers claimed they had obtained North Korean nuclear power plant materials and were preparing a program to help researchers better understand the subject.

In another, a person claiming to be a police investigator said a hacking case had uncovered the recipient’s email address on a suspicious server.

The attackers also used publicly available information and personal data obtained through previous hacking attempts to make their messages appear credible.

In some cases, they used actual names, affiliations and background information before creating emotional rapport, such as claiming to be a defense official approaching retirement who wanted to work on meaningful projects with others in the same field.

Genians said the attacks continued through last month. The final save time of one malicious file was identified as the morning of April 17.

The document was linked to an account named “Lailey,” which Genians said was also used in 2022 attacks impersonating the National Unification Advisory Council and the U.N. human rights office in Seoul.

North Korea seen strengthening cyber operations

The report comes after North Korea reorganized and renamed several intelligence bodies.

In March, North Korea changed the name of its Ministry of State Security to the State Intelligence Bureau. Last September, it expanded and renamed the Reconnaissance General Bureau as the Reconnaissance Intelligence General Bureau.

The Reconnaissance Intelligence General Bureau is believed to be the organization behind APT37.

Genians said the use of the word “intelligence” in both agencies’ names suggests North Korea is seeking to strengthen its external information collection, analysis and cyber operations.

Cybersecurity experts warned that ordinary cryptocurrency holders could also become targets because North Korea uses hacking to generate foreign currency.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service has said North Korea stole more than 2 trillion won, or about $1.4 billion, through cryptocurrency and other hacking operations targeting South Koreans and foreign virtual assets last year. The agency said it was the largest amount ever stolen by North Korean hackers.

North Korea is also believed to use cyberattacks to steal defense, information technology and other industrial technologies.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260514010003935

SEOUL, May 13 (UPI) — United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk on Wednesday called for an “all hands on deck” response to North Korea’s human rights crisis, saying efforts to address peace and security on the Korean Peninsula “need to be anchored in human rights.”

“The situation in the DPRK is a human rights crisis and it is high time the international community treats it as such,” Turk said at a press conference in Seoul, using the official acronym for North Korea.

“My office has continued to document patterns of ongoing gross human rights violations, some of which may amount to crimes against humanity,” he said.

Turk is on a three-day trip to South Korea, where he is meeting with civil society groups, North Korean escapees and senior government officials. It is the first visit by a U.N. human rights chief since 2015.

A 2014 U.N. Commission of Inquiry report found North Korea’s abuses to be “without parallel in the contemporary world” and recommended referring the country’s leadership to the International Criminal Court.

A follow-up assessment released last year by the U.N. human rights office said conditions in North Korea “have not improved over the past decade and, in many instances, have degraded,” citing worsening food shortages, forced labor and severe restrictions on movement and expression.

“It is clear that there needs to be accountability in all its forms, including non-judicial forms, for the grave violations that have plagued the DPRK for decades,” Turk said.

“It is equally clear that we need all hands on deck to craft fresh solutions for the way forward,” he added. “Peace and security on the Korean peninsula need to be anchored in human rights.”

Turk’s trip comes as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung pursues improved ties with Pyongyang through confidence-building measures such as restricting activist groups from sending anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border.

Lee’s administration has also taken a cautious approach to North Korean rights concerns, including dissolving a Unification Ministry office focused on the issue and suspending publication of an annual rights report. Advocacy groups have criticized the moves as a “troubling shift away from support for the victims of North Korean government repression.”

Turk pushed back against the notion that dialogue with Pyongyang requires softening criticism of its rights record.

“There is no paradox in engaging while addressing human rights issues,” he said. “Engagement cannot come at the expense of human rights. That was obviously a very important part of my dialogue with the authorities here.”

In March, South Korea joined 49 other countries in co-sponsoring a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution condemning North Korea’s abuses, despite speculation Seoul might withhold support.

Turk also addressed the case of two North Korean prisoners of war captured by Ukrainian forces in January 2025 after being deployed to support Russia’s war effort.

The soldiers have expressed a desire to go to South Korea rather than return to the North, where rights groups say they could face severe punishment.

Turk said international human rights law was “very clear” on the issue.

“The obligation not to send them back to areas where they could end up being harmed” applies in their case, he said.

Turk said his office continues to seek opportunities for dialogue with North Korean officials and called next week’s visit by a North Korean women’s soccer team to South Korea “encouraging.”

“Urgent steps are needed to find ways to exchange letters, resume family contacts and reunions, and release information clarifying the whereabouts and fate of disappeared and abducted people,” he said.

On Thursday, Turk is scheduled to travel to Gwangju to deliver a keynote address at the World Human Rights Cities Forum.

A rider has died after an accident in Superbike qualifying for the North West 200 international road race on Thursday.

The incident happened at Station Corner and a red flag brought the session to a close.

The rider has not been named due to the wishes of his family.

“The session was immediately red flagged and emergency services attended the scene but unfortunately the rider succumbed to his injuries,” said North West 200 organisers in a statement.

“The family have given their approval for the event to continue but have requested that the rider not be named at this time.

“Coleraine and District Motor Club, the organisers of the races, offer our sincere condolences to the family and team.”

Superbike qualifying was the first session of the day and the remaining sessions in the afternoon did not take place.

The qualifying sessions have been moved to Thursday night to replace the planned opening three races, and it has not yet been confirmed by race organisers if Saturday’s schedule will contain any additional races on top of the planned six.

The fatality is the first at the North West 200 since Malachi Mitchell-Thomas was killed in a Supertwins race in 2016, and the 20th rider to lose their life in the 97-year history of the event.

The event is an international road race that takes place on 8.97 miles of closed public roads.

SEOUL, May 7 (UPI) — North Korea is not bound by the global treaty aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, its U.N. envoy said Thursday, calling efforts to force Pyongyang to comply with the pact a “wanton violation” of international law.

Kim Song, North Korea’s permanent representative to the United Nations, made the remarks in a statement carried by the state-run Korea Central News Agency during an ongoing review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at U.N. headquarters in New York.

The United States and other countries at the conference are “groundlessly taking issue with the present status and exercise of sovereign rights of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a nuclear weapons state outside the treaty,” Kim wrote, using North Korea’s official name.

“The position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state does not change in accordance with rhetorical assertion or unilateral desire of outsiders,” he said. “Clarifying once again, the DPRK is not bound by the NPT in any case.”

North Korea formally withdrew from the NPT in 2003 and in 2022 passed a law declaring itself a nuclear state. Leader Kim Jong Un later called the country’s nuclear status “irreversible,” and Pyongyang amended its constitution to codify the expansion of its nuclear forces.

Pyongyang has repeated the assertion frequently, including during a rare address to the U.N. General Assembly in September, when a senior diplomat vowed the North would “never give up” its nuclear weapons.

In a 2025 report, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute estimated that North Korea possesses about 50 nuclear warheads and has enough fissile material for about 40 more. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said in January that North Korea was producing enough weapons-grade material to build between 10 and 20 nuclear weapons annually.

The envoy’s statement comes ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to China next week, where speculation has persisted that the trip could provide an opportunity to revive leader-to-leader diplomacy with Kim Jong Un.

Trump held a pair of high-profile summits with Kim during his first term in office and has suggested on several occasions that he would meet with the North Korean leader again.

Kim appeared to leave the door open to renewed diplomacy with Washington in remarks last year, saying he retained “fond memories” of Trump but warning that denuclearization was off the table.

On Monday, a White House official told Yonhap News Agency that a Trump-Kim meeting was “not currently on the schedule.”

Pyongyang says its status as nuclear-armed state ‘will not change based on external rhetorical claims’.

North Korea’s envoy to the United Nations has declared that Pyongyang will not be bound by any treaty on atomic weapons and that no external pressure will change its status as a nuclear-armed state.

Ambassador Kim Song’s statement – carried by state media on Thursday – came as the United States and other countries criticised North Korea’s nuclear programme at the ongoing UN conference reviewing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Pyongyang withdrew from the NPT in 2003 and has since conducted six nuclear tests, promoting multiple UN Security Council sanctions.

The country is believed to hold dozens of nuclear warheads.

“At the 11th NPT Review Conference currently under way at UN headquarters, the United States and certain countries following its lead are groundlessly calling into question the current status and exercise of sovereign rights,” Kim said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

“The status of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea as a nuclear-armed state will not change based on external rhetorical claims or unilateral desires,” he added.

“To make it clear once again, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will not be bound by the Non-Proliferation Treaty under any circumstances whatsoever.”

He continued that the country’s status as a nuclear-armed state has been “enshrined in the constitution, transparently declaring the principles of nuclear weapons use”.

North Korea has long insisted that it will not give up its nuclear arsenal, describing its path as “irreversible” and pledging to strengthen its capabilities.

It has sent ground troops and artillery shells to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and observers say Pyongyang is receiving military technology assistance from Moscow in return.

The nine nuclear-armed states – Russia, the US, France, the United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea – possessed 12,241 nuclear warheads in January 2025, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported.

The US and Russia hold nearly 90 percent of nuclear weapons globally and have carried out major programmes to modernise them in recent years, according to SIPRI.

The nuclear issue has been at the heart of the US and Israel’s war on Iran, with US President Donald Trump saying that Tehran – a signatory to the NPT – can never have a nuclear weapon.

Iran denies seeking an atomic weapon and has long demanded Washington acknowledge its right to enrich uranium.

May 6 (Asia Today) — Honda and Nissan are overhauling their electric vehicle strategies in North America as policy changes and weaker demand reshape the market, Japanese media reported Wednesday.

Honda has indefinitely postponed construction of a major EV production hub in Ontario, Canada, while Nissan has scrapped plans for U.S. EV production and will focus instead on expanding its hybrid lineup, according to Nikkei.

Honda announced the Ontario project in April 2024. The plan called for vehicle and battery plants with annual production capacity of 240,000 units and a total investment of 15 billion Canadian dollars, or about $11 billion.

The project had already secured land and government support, but Honda delayed the launch by two years in 2025 after EV market growth fell short of expectations. Nikkei said the plan could eventually be canceled depending on the direction of North American policy.

The shift comes as the Trump administration’s rollback of EV tax credits has increased consumer costs, while relaxed environmental rules have reduced pressure on automakers to expand EV production.

U.S. EV sales fell 36% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, while hybrid vehicles rose from 11% to a record 19% of the market.

Japanese automakers are expected to prioritize hybrids to protect profitability in North America as a near-term EV recovery appears unlikely.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260506010000998

SEOUL, May 6 (UPI) — North Korea has revised its constitution to remove all references to reunification with South Korea, a document shared by Seoul’s Unification Ministry showed Wednesday, formalizing leader Kim Jong Un’s push to redefine inter-Korean ties as relations between two separate states.

The document, which was shared at a news conference by the ministry, removes language calling for the “peaceful reunification” of the Korean Peninsula that had been part of the North’s constitution since a 1992 revision.

The new version codifies a policy shift Kim first laid out in 2024, when he abandoned Pyongyang’s long-standing goal of reunification and defined South Korea as an adversary.

At a March meeting of North Korea’s rubber-stamp legislature, where the revision is believed to have been adopted, Kim called for recognizing South Korea as the “most hostile state.”

However, the revised constitution did not define South Korea as a “primary foe” or “hostile state,” despite Kim’s increasingly confrontational rhetoric toward Seoul, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The new constitution also introduces language defining North Korea’s territory as bordering China and Russia to the north and South Korea to the south.

It does not specifically address maritime boundary lines, including the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea known as the Northern Limit Line. The NLL, which was drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led United Nations Command after the Korean War, has long been a source of tension between the two Koreas.

The waters around the boundary, which Pyongyang does not recognize, have been the site of multiple naval clashes since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, including the 2010 including the North’s 2010 torpedo attack on a South Korean warship that left 46 dead.

In January 2024, Kim called the line “illegal” and warned that even the slightest violation of the North’s territory would be considered a “war provocation.”

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sought to ease inter-Korean tensions since taking office in June, calling for the resumption of dialogue and making conciliatory gestures such as dismantling border propaganda loudspeakers.

Pyongyang has largely ignored those overtures while continuing to expand its military posture. In April, North Korea conducted several weapons tests, including tactical ballistic missiles with cluster bomb warheads and electronic warfare systems.

The revision also elevates Kim’s position as “head of state,” further consolidating his authority over state affairs and the country’s nuclear forces.

“Curly” Williams returned to his old high school campus last week for the first time in 76 years, but did so under his given name — the same name emblazoned on North Hollywood High’s newest attraction: the John Williams Performing Arts Center.

Williams, 94, attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony last Wednesday, which commenced with the composer’s rousing “Raiders March” played by the school’s marching band and accompanied by its blue-clad cheerleaders.

“I think you played that better than we could have,” Williams said, speaking from a wheelchair under the sign of his namesake venue in front of other accomplished alumni and friends, including producer Kathleen Kennedy. “That’s a hard piece.”

The ambitious construction project, initiated in 2015 and designed by CO Architects occupies 35,000 square feet and seats 800. Michael Stebbins, project manager for the BroadStage in Santa Monica, served as project manager. The center is equipped with state-of-the-art amenities to host student performances and school assemblies, but also to train the next generation of theater technicians. Besides an enormous stage, blue velvet curtains, a mixing console and safe catwalks, the building also features new classrooms and rehearsal spaces.

Students, faculty and guests stand for the national anthem before a concert inside the new John Williams Performing Arts Center, named for one of North Hollywood High’s most famous alumni.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

A 75-foot hand-painted mural in the lobby, still in the works by artist Ian Robertson-Salt, is inspired by Williams’ formidable filmography, which serves “as a daily reminder to every student who walks these halls that greatness can begin right here,” remarked Andrés Chait, acting superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District.

Due to health complications, Williams has made few public appearances in the last two years. He last conducted a concert in February 2024 — and he has also consistently turned down requests to name buildings after him, including at his beloved Tanglewood in Massachusetts, although the Hollywood Bowl did recently name its stage for Williams. It’s a testament to his affection for his time at North Hollywood High, and his regard for the next generation of students, that he not only blessed this dedication but showed up and spoke to a gathered crowd of hundreds.

“I’m sort of silly happy to be here,” he said, calling the dedication “a singular honor in my life.”

Other showbiz alumni on hand included “Beauty and the Beast” producer Don Hahn (class of ’73), “Independence Day” writer-producer Dean Devlin (’80), and Rob Friedman (’81), CEO of Ascendant Entertainment. Partly due to its proximity to the entertainment industry, North Hollywood High has produced a host of famous artists over the decades, including the late Michael Tilson Thomas, who attended in the early 1960s.

John Williams smiles while applauding a performance by the North Hollywood High School band at the dedication ceremony of the John Williams Performing Arts Center on campus.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

“At some point you have to stop calling that a coincidence,” said Kennedy, a longtime collaborator of Williams who gave brief remarks before handing him the microphone. “Something happened here, and something can happen again.”

Williams moved to North Hollywood with his family in 1947, having grown up in Queens. He transferred to North Hollywood High as a 15-year-old sophomore, and joined the band and orchestra as a jazz-loving trombonist. His classmates included Susan Sontag (“I remember her teaching a class in civics, when the teacher would sit down and listen to her,” he told me in 2023) and many future actors, including Barbara Ruick, who played Carrie Pipperidge in “Carousel.” But his best friends were all music-inclined guys whose dads, like his, were famous musicians.

A poster board featured yearbook photos of John Williams, left, performing with the North Hollywood High School Band, class of 1950, in the lobby of the new John Williams Performing Arts Center on the North Hollywood High School campus.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Williams embraced the nickname “Curly,” given to him by a fellow student in response to his curly red hair, and quickly created his own jazz band with classmates. Ruick sang with them at school events and dances, and they became the house band at a new teens-only venue in Van Nuys called the Dri-Nite Club. Broadcast on local radio, they caught the attention of Time magazine, which ran a story on “Curly’s” band in October 1949.

A newspaper story about John Williams’ high school band from the Los Angeles Unified School District’s archives.

(Los Angeles Unified School District)

Williams has said he fondly remembers his civics and French classes at North Hollywood High, but his time and passion were almost exclusively devoted to music. He rigorously practiced the piano at home, studying with a local concert pianist and MGM arranger named Robert Van Eps; on Wednesday nights he played in jam sessions with his father (Johnny Sr., a drummer) and the Columbia Pictures orchestra. He bopped around clubs in L.A. listening to jazz greats like Oscar Peterson (whose style influenced Williams’ recent piano concerto), and started making a name of his own as a wunderkind performer and arranger.

Long before he scored “Star Wars” or “Harry Potter,” Williams did his earliest arranging and orchestrating for theater productions at North Hollywood High. The impact of his time at North Hollywood High cannot be overstated.

John Williams featured with members of the class of 1950 in the North Hollywood High School Yearbook.

(Los Angeles Unified School District)

During his remarks about the performing arts center on Wednesday, Williams said he felt particularly overwhelmed because the school was “formative in my thinking and my professional work … This is a great, magical place, North Hollywood.”

Williams eventually married Ruick, his high school sweetheart and mother of his three children. Ruick was instrumental in making many of Williams’ earliest career connections. She died from a brain aneurysm in 1974, at the age of 41, just one year before Williams’ career catapulted with “Jaws.” The couple’s youngest son, Joseph, lead singer of Toto, stood proudly behind Williams during the theater’s dedication.

The John Williams Performing Arts Center (JWPAC) is the crescendo of a $319.5 million modernization project at North Hollywood High, which also includes modern classrooms and athletic facilities. It’s a reflection of the diverse public school’s commitment to the arts; students here can play in the orchestra, marching band or modern band, and study drama or modern dance.

“As I think about what else I might say to all of you younger people, students here,” Williams said at his homecoming Wednesday, “two words about this beautiful building: simply use it. Make sure you all use the place.”

Tim Greiving is the author of “John Williams: A Composer’s Life.”

Naegohyang FC will play the South’s Suwon FC on May 20 in the semifinal of the Women’s Asian Champions League.

A North Korean women’s football club will become the first sports team from the country to play in South Korea since 2018 when they visit this month, Seoul’s Ministry of Unification has confirmed.

The neighbours remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, and sporting and cultural exchanges between them are very rare.

Naegohyang Women’s FC will play the South’s Suwon FC Women on May 20 in the semifinals of the Asian Champions League.

The visiting delegation will include 27 players and 12 club staff, the ministry said on Monday. South Korea’s football association told the AFP news agency that the team would arrive on May 17.

They will fly into Incheon airport on an Air China flight from Beijing, a Unification Ministry official said.

The winner of the match at Suwon Sports Complex, south of the capital Seoul, will play the final of Asia’s top women’s club competition against either Australia’s Melbourne City or Japan’s Tokyo Verdy Beleza on May 23.

“The losing team in the semifinal will return home on Thursday, May 21, with no third-place playoff scheduled,” the ministry statement added.

The match will be the first time a North Korean sports team has played in the South since shooting, youth football and table tennis delegations travelled there in 2018.

The last time Pyongyang sent a women’s football team to the South was in 2014, when the North Korean national team took part in the Asian Games in Incheon.

Founded in 2012 and based in the North Korean capital, much of Naegohyang’s squad is “made up of national team-level players”, the ministry said.

North Korea’s national team is one of the dominant forces in Asian women’s football, winning multiple international titles in recent years, especially at the youth level.

The most recent one came in November last year, when they defeated the Netherlands 3-0 in the final of the U-17 Women’s World Cup.

The whale calf’s repeated stranding off the coast of Germany sparked widespread concern and extensive media coverage.

A humpback whale calf that earned huge media attention and the nickname Timmy after being repeatedly stranded in shallow waters near Germany has been released into the North Sea by rescue team.

The operation to save the sea mammal, launched as its health deteriorated, transported Timmy in a water-filled barge and released him off Denmark on Saturday.

Karin Walter-Mommert, one of the private financiers of the operation, said the whale appeared to be swimming freely and in the right direction upon his release, the APF news agency reports.

He “should now swim up the Norwegian coast toward the Arctic”, she said.

Timmy was first spotted near Germany’s Baltic Sea coast on March 3. He repeatedly got stuck in shallow waters, despite efforts to encourage him back to the deeper sea.

Far from his natural habitat of the Atlantic Ocean, the whale became distressed, and the public became invested in his plight as his health deteriorated and experts worried that he would not survive.

Several efforts to rescue him, including using inflatable cushions and a pontoon, were unsuccessful, leading German officials to suggest he was doomed.

A private initiative to save the animal was then approved by Germany’s Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state, but that sparked debate as to whether it would be best to let him die in peace or push him to return home, an ordeal that could have proved too much for him.

Timmy developed a skin condition as a result of the Baltic Sea’s low salt content, and would barely move for days at a time, his breathing irregular.

The International Whaling Commission said in April that with each stranding causing additional harm, “the chances of survival [had become] negligible”.

However, the use of the special barge finally saw Timmy returned to his natural habitat.

It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea, far from the Atlantic Ocean. Some experts say the animal may have lost its way while swimming after a shoal of herring or during migration.

A GPS transmitter was reportedly attached to the whale before his release, suggesting there could be more updates to come, with the case having been furiously followed by online media in particular.