SEOUL: North Korea hit out yesterday at South Korea for the fatal shooting of a would-be defector, calling its government “barbarians in human form”. It urged Seoul to establish the truth behind the “merciless killing” and sternly punish those involved. Troops in the South on September 16 shot dead a South Korean trying to swim across the Imjin border river into the North, in a highly unusual incident. The South’s military said soldiers manning a nearby guard post had repeatedly shouted warnings at Nam Yong-Ho to turn back, but the 47-year-old ignored them. It said the unit commander then ordered his men to open fire, and several hundred shots were discharged.
Suspected drug pusher held
BANGKOK: Police in Thailand arrested an American man and five other suspects wanted by the US for allegedly running an international drug trafficking network that spanned Asia and the US, authorities said yesterday. Joseph Manuel Hunter, 48, and his alleged accomplices were arrested Wednesday on the resort island of Phuket as part of a sting operation launched at the request of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, said Thai deputy police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang. Hunter served in the US Navy, and his alleged accomplices were also believed to have had military training, police said.
Miss World final tomorrow
JAKARTA: The Miss World final takes place on the Indonesian resort island of Bali tomorrow after weeks of protests from Muslim hardliners and warnings that extremists could attack the pageant. Police and traditional Balinese security personnel, wearing sarongs and armed with daggers, will be out in force on the Hindu-majority island as the beauty queens take to the stage. A total of 129 contestants will parade in the glittering finale of the three-week event, which will be broadcast to more than 180 countries. Radical anger has not been appeased, however. The hardliners are threatening to stage fresh protests on Saturday and even to try to break through heavy security to get into Bali to demonstrate at the venue.
China general’s son jailed
Beijing: The 17-year-old son of a prominent Chinese general and military singer has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for gang-rape, bringing to an end a six-month affair that provoked widespread outrage about entitlement among the wealthy elite. The Haidian district people’s court in Beijing sentenced Li Tianyi and four other juveniles for getting a woman drunk, beating her, and gang-raping her in a Beijing hotel in February. Three others received sentences of three to four years. The only legal adult in the group, a man with the surname Wang, was sentenced to 12 years behind bars. “The behaviour of the five defendants counts as gang-rape. It has caused harm to the victim’s mind and body, as well as harm to society, was of a vile nature, and should be punished accordingly,” said the verdict the court released via Sina Weibo, the most popular microblog. Li received a harsher sentence because he refused to repent for the crime or compensate the victim, state media reported.
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