Daily News Brief

August 19, 2022

Top of the Agenda

Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, rejected Seoul’s offer (Yonhap) for large-scale economic aid in exchange for North Korean denuclearization, calling it “the height of absurdity.” In a letter carried by North Korean state media, she said the plan was a copy of a South Korean approach that failed over a decade ago. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol detailed the plan, which includes food, health, and infrastructure assistance, in a speech marking the country’s Liberation Day.  

North Korea’s rebuff comes as South Korea and the United States prepare (AP) their largest joint military exercises in decades, set to start on Monday. Earlier this week, Pyongyang fired two missiles toward the Yellow Sea, west of the Korean Peninsula.

Analysis

“The North Koreans have already rejected the premises under which Yoon’s plan has been developed and put forward. Kim clearly envisions his survival and that of North Korea as premised on the country’s nuclear status, not tradeable for North Korea’s economic integration with either South Korea or the global economy,” CFR’s Scott A. Snyder writes for the Asia Unbound blog.

“While the United States and South Korea describe their exercises as defensive, Ulchi Freedom Shield will almost surely draw an angry reaction from North Korea, which describes all allied training as invasion rehearsals and has used them to justify its nuclear weapons and missiles development,” Kim Tong-hyung of the Associated Press writes.

Pacific Rim

The loan for telecommunications towers is the first financing (AFP) Beijing has provided the islands since signing a security deal with the country in April.

This Backgrounder unpacks China’s controversial tech giant.

South and Central Asia

Political leaders in India-administered Kashmir pushed back against (Al Jazeera) the Indian government’s announcement that non-locals will be able to vote there.

Afghanistan: Flash floods have killed at least forty-three people (NYT) across the country in the past week, a central government spokesperson said.

Middle East and North Africa

Israel said the groups were linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Tel Aviv and Washington classify as a terrorist organization. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Washington is not following Israel’s lead (Times of Israel) in blacklisting the groups. 

Egypt: Jailed dissident Alaa Abd el-Fattah escalated his five-month hunger strike to forgo solid foods, his family told Reuters.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Protesters in Butembo had claimed the peacekeeping mission failed to protect civilians (Reuters). A UN spokesperson said hundreds of troops and civilian personnel have been temporarily redeployed and the mission would not permanently leave the major city.

This Backgrounder looks at the role of peacekeeping in Africa.

Ghana: Ghana’s central bank raised interest rates (FT) to 22 percent, its largest hike in twenty years, in an effort to control inflation.

Europe

Finnish border authorities are investigating (Bloomberg) the alleged breach by two Russian fighter jets in the Gulf of Finland.

Moldova: Since the beginning of July, the small country that borders Ukraine has received almost sixty bomb threats (AP), with more than fifteen reported this week.

Americas

Vice President Hugo Velázquez initially said he would step down after the U.S. State Department named him on a corruption list, but has since said he is entitled to due process (AP) and had not received information he is under investigation in Paraguay or the United States.

Mexico: In its preliminary findings, a government probe called the 2014 disappearance of forty-three schoolchildren a “crime of the state” (NYT) that involved every layer of government.

United States

The White House will make 1.8 million additional doses available to jurisdictions that use a new protocol that stretches one vial (NYT) of the vaccine to administer five doses. It will also direct more doses (White House) to areas hosting large LGBTQ+ events.

For Think Global Health, Lindsay Wiley explains the United States’ legal tools to respond to the monkeypox outbreak.

Friday Editor’s Pick

In photos, the New York Times depicts the partition of British India, a violent division that transformed the borders and geopolitics of South Asia.

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