Watch US official sees signs of inter-Korean engagement

US official sees signs of inter-Korean engagement


SEOUL, South Korea — North and South Korea are showing positive signs of improving relations, a U.S. diplomat said Thursday, but he cautioned that Pyongyang has yet to indicate it is serious about moving forward on denuclearization.
The two Koreas agreed last week to hold their first reunions in a year for families divided by the Korean War, while South Korea is considering a proposal by North Korea to hold talks aimed at restarting a stalled joint tourism venture.
Military tensions between the two sides remain high over the March sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul and Washington blame on North Korea, which Pyongyang denies.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell, on a brief visit to Seoul to meet South Korean officials, said that the two Koreas must resume dialogue.
"The first step has to be re-engagement between North Korea and South Korea," Campbell told reporters Thursday, noting "some signs of dialogue, engagement between North and South Koreas and we encourage that process to continue."
Campbell also called on North Korea to live up to its promises to give up its nuclear programs.
"I think we're also looking for a clear and demonstrable commitment on the part of the North Koreans to fulfill their commitments that they made on denuclearization in 2005," he added, referring to an agreement made in six-nation negotiations.
Campbell was in Seoul a week after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's third son, Kim Jong Un, was promoted to top military and ruling party posts, signaling he is in line to succeed his ailing father.
Campbell's visit also came a day after an adviser to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said in published comments that the threat posed by North Korea's nuclear program has reached an "extremely dangerous level."
Last week, the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said that satellite images from Sept. 29 showed new construction activity in the area surrounding North Korea's nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.
"The North Korean nuclear threat has, in reality, been accelerating and has now reached an extremely dangerous level," deputy national security adviser Kim Tae-hyo said, according to the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper. He confirmed the comments to The Associated Press, but declined to elaborate.
North Korea, which has active nuclear and missile programs, conducted underground atomic tests in 2006 and 2009, drawing tough international sanctions in response.
South Korea, along with the United States, China, Japan and Russia, have been negotiating with the impoverished country since 2003 to get it to dismantle its nuclear facilities, which they consider a threat to regional security.
Separately, North Korea has ordered its officials in China to pledge their allegiance to Kim Jong Un, a news report said Thursday.
"North Korean diplomats and traders in China are believed to be sending letters pledging their loyalty to Kim Jong Un and Kim Jong Il since last week" the Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said, citing an unidentified source in China.
The letters, which may also have been ordered in other countries, might be an attempt to bolster the transition, the source told the newspaper.
A North Korean official at the country's embassy in Beijing reached by telephone said he had no information. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing internal policy.
Presidential adviser Kim also suggested that there is potential danger in the emergence of Kim Jong Un as heir apparent.
"Kim is young and lacks experience, so there is a chance that he might develop an appetite for yet another risk or be tempted to engage in provocation to prove himself to the outside world," the presidential adviser said.
Little is known about Kim Jong Un. For the first time, state media reported Tuesday on him observing military exercises with his father. The Korean Central News Agency also said in a report released early Thursday that he attended a concert with Kim Jong Il and other top party, state and military officials
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Watch Pakistan Taliban planning aid attack, says US official

Pakistan Taliban planning aid attack, says US official


Millions of Pakistanis have been displaced by the floods
The Pakistani Taliban are planning to attack foreigners helping with flood relief efforts in the country, a senior US official has warned.

The official also said "federal and provincial ministers" may be at risk.

Some UN agencies say they are now reviewing their security procedures.

It has now been four weeks since the start of the flooding, described as the region's worst humanitarian crisis. The UN says more than 17 million people have been affected by the floods.

Continue reading the main story
Pakistan's Monsoon Floods

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As floods sweep down from the north, they are threatening to breach an embankment in the Kot Almo area in Sindh province, forcing thousands of people in the southern Thatta district to flee from their homes.

Throughout Pakistan, about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed in the monsoon floods, leaving 5 million people homeless.

Aid agencies are focusing on providing emergency relief such as shelter, food and medical care.

'Plans to attack'

The militant group Tehrik-e Taliban "plans to conduct attacks against foreigners participating in the ongoing flood relief operations in Pakistan", a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC.

There have been no such attacks so far, but Tehrik-e Taliban is considered the most radical and violent militant group in Pakistan.

A retired Pakistani general, Talat Masood, told the BBC that the militant group would seek to counter any gains in public support for Western governments helping with relief and aid work.
Protection and security

The warning came hours after a top US general involved in the military relief effort said his men had not encountered any security problems in flying aid to Pakistan.

It has been nearly a month since the flooding began
"We have seen no security threat whatsoever in the three weeks we have been operating here," Brigadier General Michael Nagata was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

He added that the Pakistani military had done a "highly effective job in providing our force protection and security".

Various nations have pledged more than $700m (£552m) for relief efforts in Pakistan.

Workers have begun clearing up as the floods recede in the north and the UN has appealed for more helicopters to reach 800,000 people who are cut off.
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Giorgia Boscolo endured First lady joins official ranks of Venice's gondoliers

Giorgia Boscolo endured a year of stringent tests and training
Watched being this enjoy First lady joins official ranks of Venice's gondoliers
Authorities in Italy's lagoon city of Venice have granted a full licence to a female gondolier for the first time.

Mother-of-two Giorgia Boscolo, 24, whose father was also a gondolier, passed a year-long series of practical and written tests.

Mrs Boscolo joins the hitherto all-male Venetian gondoliers' guild and can now officially row tourists through the city's narrow canals.

She hopes to have her own gondola tied up in front of St Mark's Basilica.

Venice deputy mayor Sandro Simionato admitted there had been "excessive male domination" inside the 425-strong gondoliers' guild, which jealously guards its ancient traditions and skills.

But the BBC's David Willey in Rome says that even now, Giorgia Boscolo can only stand in for a male colleague if he wants to take a day off from the lucrative job of rowing tourists.

Fares start from 40 euros ($50 £32) for a 20-minute ride in the glossy 11-metre long, black-painted craft with its distinctive metal prow.
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