South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung says he’ll bolster US-Japan ties and pursue talks with North Jun 3, 2025 | 7:51 PM

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung said Wednesday he’ll pursue dialogue with North Korea while bolstering a trilateral partnership with the U.S. and Japan.

He said in his inaugural address after taking office that his government will deal with potential North Korean aggressions with “a strong deterrence” based on the solid South Korea-U.S. military alliance. But he would also leave the door open for dialogue with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

He said he’ll pursue pragmatic diplomacy and boost a trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation based on the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

Lee won a snap election Tuesday for a five-year term.

Dr. Jitendra Singh to lead the Indian delegation to UNOC3 Union Minister of Earth Sciences (I/C), Dr. Jitendra Singh will lead the Indian delegation to France to attend the United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3).

The conference is being held from 8th June in Nice.

The delegation will also include Secretary Earth Sciences and a noted Ocean expert Dr. M. Ravichandran.

During the visit, Norway’s Minister of International Development, Åsmund Grøver Aukrust, will also host a side event at the Monoco harbour with Crown Prince Haakon as the Guest of honour.

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South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung takes office South Korea has elected liberal Lee Jae-myung as president to lead the country through a tumultuous period that will require negotiating trade tariffs with the U.S. and mending the scars from his ousted predecessor’s shock martial law declaration.

Earthquake of 4.2 magnitude jolts China An earthquake of magnitude 4.2 struck China early Wednesday morning, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said in a statement. According to the NCS, the quake occurred at a shallow depth of 10 km, which makes it more likely to be followed by aftershocks.

In a post on X, the NCS said, “EQ of M: 4.2, On: 04/06/2025 04:43:08 IST, Lat: 33.73 N, Long: 81.99 E, Depth: 10 Km, Location: China.”

South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung says he’ll bolster US-Japan ties and pursue talks with North Korea South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung said Wednesday he’ll pursue dialogue with North Korea while bolstering a trilateral partnership with the U.S. and Japan.

He said in his inaugural address after taking office that his government will deal with potential North Korean aggressions with “a strong deterrence” based on the solid South Korea-U.S. military alliance. But he would also leave the door open for dialogue with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

He said he’ll pursue pragmatic diplomacy and boost a trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation based on the South Korea-U.S. alliance.

Israel says rockets fired from Syria for the first time since Bashar Assad’s fall The Israeli army said two rockets were fired from Syria into open areas in the Israel-controlled Golan Heights on Tuesday, marking the first time a strike has been launched toward Israel from Syrian territory since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December.

Syrian state media reported that Israel shelled the western countryside of Syria’s Daraa province after the rocket launch. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, also reported Israeli airstrikes that caused “violent explosions” around the city of Quneitra and in the Daraa countryside.

A group calling itself the Mohammed Deif Brigades — named after a Hamas military leader killed by an Israeli strike in Gaza last year — claimed the attack in a post on Telegram. The group first surfaced on social media a few days before.

“Until now, it’s just a Telegram channel. It’s not known if it is a real group,” said Ahmed Aba Zeid, a Syrian researcher who has studied armed factions in southern Syria.

S. Korea’s Lee vows better ties with North, says ‘peace is better than war’

Russia’s Shoigu to discuss Ukraine with N.Korea’s Kim, Russian news agencies report Moscow’s top security official, Sergei Shoigu, has arrived in Pyongyang to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and discuss the situation in Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported on Wednesday.

Gaza officials say Israeli forces killed 27 heading to aid site. Israel says it fired near suspects Israeli forces fired on people as they headed toward an aid distribution site in Gaza on Tuesday, killing at least 27, Palestinian health officials and witnesses said, in the third such shooting in three days. The army said it fired “near a few individual suspects” who left the designated route, approached its forces and ignored warning shots.

The near-daily shootings have occurred after an Israeli and US-backed foundation established aid distribution points inside Israeli military zones, a system it says is designed to circumvent Hamas. The United Nations has rejected the new system, saying it doesn’t address Gaza’s mounting hunger crisis and allows Israel to use aid as a weapon.

Canada in ‘intensive’ negotiations to have US tariffs removed, PM Carney’s office says The Canadian government is engaged in “intensive and live” negotiations to get exempted from newly announced additional U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum as well as other import duties imposed by the Trump administration, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office said on Tuesday.

“The additional tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum announced today by the United States are unlawful and unjustified,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

“Canada’s new government is engaged in intensive and live negotiations to have these and other tariffs removed as part of a new economic and security partnership with the United States,” it added.

“Lacks maturity to handle post of LoP…”: Sudhanshu Trivedi hits out at Rahul Gandhi over remarks in MP Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and senior spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi launched a scathing attack on the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha and Congress MP, Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of making “objectionable and cheap” remarks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Rahul Gandhi has proved again that he does not have the ability and maturity to handle a post like the Leader of the Opposition and has shown his lack of wisdom and low standards,” said Trivedi.

Escalating the political war of words, Trivedi reiterated that Rahul’s remarks displayed a lack of political wisdom. “By making objectionable and cheap comments about PM Narendra Modi, he has once again proved that he does not have the ability and maturity to handle a serious post like the Leader of the Opposition. By making such statements, Rahul Gandhi has again shown his lack of wisdom and low standards,” he added.

Higher metals tariffs kick in as deadline for ‘best’ offers arrives The U.S. tariff rate on most imported steel and aluminum will double on Wednesday as President Donald Trump ratchets up a global trade war on the same day he expects trading partners to deliver their “best offer” in bids to avoid punishing import tax rates on other goods from taking effect in early July.

Trump late Tuesday signed an executive proclamation that puts into effect from Wednesday his surprise announcement last week that he was taking the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports that had been in place since March to 50% from 25%.

Environmentalists criticize Trump administration push for new oil and gas drilling in Alaska Top Trump administration officials — fresh off touring one of the country’s largest oil fields in the Alaska Arctic — headlined an energy conference led by the state’s Republican governor on Tuesday that environmentalists criticized as promoting new oil and gas drilling and turning away from the climate crisis.

Several dozen protesters were outside Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s annual Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference in Anchorage, where U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin were featured speakers. The federal officials were continuing a multiday trip aimed at highlighting President Donald Trump’s push to expand oil and gas drilling, mining and logging in the state.

The trip has included meetings with pro-drilling groups and officials, including some Alaska Native leaders on the petroleum-rich North Slope, and a visit to the Prudhoe Bay oil field near the Arctic Ocean that featured selfies near the 800-mile (1,287-kilometer) trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

“India peace-loving country, but will respond firmly to provocation”: Anurag Thakur Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Anurag Thakur, who is part of the all-party delegation led by Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) or NCP SP MP Supriya Sule, reaffirmed India’s commitment to peace and issued a stern warning that any provocation or threat to the nation’s security will be met with firm and decisive action.

He emphasised that while India stands as a peace-loving nation, it will not hesitate to act decisively if its sovereignty or the safety of its citizens is threatened.

“The safety of 140 crore Indians and the security of our country’s borders is our utmost priority. We have delivered a clear message to the world that India will take every step necessary to safeguard its citizens, its unity, and its territorial integrity,” Anurag Thakur told ANI.

Reiterating India’s long-standing stance of non-aggression, Thakur stated, “We never attack anyone. We are a peace-loving country, but we will not remain quiet if someone disturbs that peace.”

Oil prices slip as rising OPEC+ output, tariff fears weigh on outlook Oil prices edged lower in early Asian trade on Wednesday, weighed down by a loosening supply-demand balance following increasing OPEC+ output and lingering concerns over the global economic outlook due to tariff tensions.

Brent crude futures dipped 5 cents, or 0.1%, to $65.58 a barrel by 0040 GMT while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude was at $63.32 a barrel, down 9 cents, or 0.1%.

Both benchmarks climbed about 2% on Tuesday to a two-week high, supported by worries over supply disruptions from Canadian wildfires and expectations that Iran will reject a U.S. nuclear deal proposal that is key to easing sanctions on the major oil producer.

“Despite fears over Canadian supply and stalled Iran-U.S. nuclear talks, oil markets are struggling to extend gains,” said Tsuyoshi Ueno, senior economist at NLI Research Institute, adding that OPEC+ production increases were capping the upside.

“Egyptian Foreign Minister reassured India, Egypt must work together…”: NCP-SCP MP Supriya Sule Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) or NCP SP MP Supriya Sule, who is leading the all-party delegation to Egypt, said on Tuesday that the group held a constructive meeting with Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty. He reassured them that India and Egypt need to work together in peace, trade, and culture, as the two nations are uniquely placed.

While interacting with local leaders, opinion makers, and think tanks in Cairo, Sule expressed gratitude to Egyptian leadership for standing firmly with India during the challenging and painful time and expressed his commitment to peace. He said that India launched Operation Sindoor under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She said that PM Modi sent seven groups of parliamentary delegations to several nations.

She said, “Under the leadership of our Prime Minister, we had Operation Sindoor, and as a part of the operation, this is an activity which the honourable Prime Minister wanted all of us to do is we have come here not as just members of parliament or ideologies. We have come as Indians here to tell the world what has really happened in India 5 weeks ago. As we are aware, the world has changed, technology has changed our lives, so it is social media, media, and the kind of information that’s going around, some of it factual, some of it deep fake. So, the honourable Prime Minister made 7 groups, each group with five members of parliament, and sent them to 4 to 5 countries in the last 10 days. All these 7 groups have travelled the globe and reached out to various countries which are friends like Egypt, and I have only gratitude in my heart because the Egyptian leadership is one of the few countries which reached out to Prime Minister Modi and reassured and stood very firmly with us during our challenging, painful times and said they would condemn any such attack, and Egypt is committed to peace and would not tolerate any terrorism anywhere in the world.”

SEOUL: South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung vowed Wednesday to restart dormant talks with North Korea and bolster a trilateral partnership with the US and Japan, as he laid out key policy goals for his single, five-year term.

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Lee, who rose from childhood poverty to become South Korea’s leading liberal politician vowing to fight inequality and corruption, formally began his term earlier Wednesday, a day after winning a snap election that was triggered in April by the removal of then-President Yoon Suk Yeol over his ill-fated imposition of martial law late last year.

In his inaugural address at the national assembly, Lee said that his government will deal with potential North Korean aggressions with “strong deterrence” based on the solid South Korea-US military alliance.

But he said he would “open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean peninsula through talks and cooperation.”

He said he’ll pursue pragmatic diplomacy with neighbouring countries and boost trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation based on the robust South Korea-US alliance.

“Through pragmatic diplomacy based on national interests, we will turn the crisis posed by the major shift in global economic and security landscapes into an opportunity to maximise our national interests,” Lee said.

It was unclear whether Lee’s election would cause any major, immediate shift in South Korea’s foreign policy. Lee, previously accused by critics of tilting toward China and North Korea and away from the US and Japan, has recently repeatedly stressed South Korea’s alliance with the US as the foundation of its foreign policy.

The toughest external challenges awaiting Lee are US President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and North Korea’s advancing nuclear programme.

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But experts earlier said whoever becomes president can’t do much to secure major progress in South Korea’s favour on those issues.

During his inauguration speech, Lee didn’t directly mention trade issues with the US.

Lee said revitalising a slowing domestic economy would be his top priority and that his government would immediately launch an emergency task force to wage a “head-on battle” against the threats of recession.

He also promised more aggressive government spending to help spur economic activity.

South Korea’s central bank cut its key interest rate and sharply lowered its growth outlook for 2025 to 0.8 per cent, as it moved to counter US President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes and weak domestic demand worsened by recent political turmoil.

Lee’s term began immediately without the usual two-month transition period after the national election commission formally confirmed his election victory.

In a telephone call with Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Kim Myung-soo, Lee asked the military to closely monitor North Korean moves and maintain a solid readiness based on the combined South Korea-US military alliance, according to local TV footage.

Lee later visited the national cemetery in Seoul to pay respects to late Korean leaders, patriots and war dead who are buried there.

Seoul, Jun 4 (AP) South Korea’s new President Lee Jae-myung said Wednesday he’ll pursue dialogue with North Korea while bolstering a trilateral partnership with the US and Japan.

He said in his inaugural address after taking office that his government will deal with potential North Korean aggressions with “a strong deterrence” based on the solid South Korea-US military alliance.

Also Read | Biological Pathogen Smuggling: 2 Chinese Nationals, Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu, Charged for Smuggling Fungus Called Fusarium Graminearum Into US.

But he would also leave the door open for dialogue with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula.

He said he’ll pursue pragmatic diplomacy and boost a trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation based on the South Korea-US alliance.

Also Read | ‘Kashmir Cause Still Exists’: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Concedes Pakistan Faces ‘Hurdles’ in Its Campaign at United Nations.

Lee won a snap election Tuesday for a five-year term. (AP)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)