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Korean Leaders Pledge Denuclearization, And Possibly End The Korean War
GOYANG, South Korea (AP) — The leaders of North and South Korea played it safe Friday, repeating a previous vow to rid the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons but failing to provide any specific new measures or forge a potential breakthrough on an issue that has captivated and terrified many since the rivals seemed on the verge of war last year.
In a sense, the vague joint statement produced by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in to achieve “a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearization” kicks one of the world’s most pressing issues down the road to a much-anticipated summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in coming weeks.
Even so, the Koreas’ historic summit Friday might be remembered as much for the sight of two men from nations with a deep and bitter history of acrimony holding each other’s hands and grinning from ear to ear after Kim walked over the border to greet Moon, and then both briefly stepped together into the North and back to the South.
Standing at a podium next to Moon after the talks ended, Kim faced a wall of cameras beaming his image live to the world and declared that the Koreas are “linked by blood as a family and compatriots who cannot live separately.”
What happened Friday should be seen in the context of the last year — when the United States, its ally South Korea and the North threatened and raged as the North unleashed a torrent of weapons tests — but also in light of the long, destructive history of the rival Koreas, who fought one of the 20th century’s bloodiest conflicts and even today occupy a divided peninsula that’s still technically in a state of war. Kim’s single step across the cracked, weathered concrete marking the Koreas’ border made him the first ruler of North Korea to step on South Korean soil since the war.
It marks a surreal, whiplash swing in relations for the countries, from nuclear threats and missile tests to intimations of peace and cooperation. Perhaps the change is best illustrated by geography: Kim and Moon’s historic handshake and a later 30-minute conversation at a footbridge on the border occurred within walking distance of the spot where a North Korean soldier fled south in a hail of gunfire last year, and where North Korean soldiers axe-murdered two U.S. soldiers in 1976.
The latest declaration between the Koreas, Kim said, should not repeat the “unfortunate history of past inter-Korean agreements that only reached the starting line” before becoming derailed.
Trump tweeted later Friday, “KOREAN WAR TO END!” and said the United States “should be very proud of what is now taking place in Korea!” Both Koreas agreed to jointly push for talks this year with the United States and also potentially China to officially end the Korean War, which stopped with an armistice that never ended the war.
Many will be judging the summit based on the weak nuclear language. North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests last year likely put it on the threshold of becoming a legitimate nuclear power. The North, which has spent decades doggedly building its bombs despite crippling sanctions and near-constant international opprobrium, claims it has already risen to that level.
South Korean conservative politicians criticized the joint statement as letting North Korea off the hook by failing to secure a clear commitment on nuclear disarmament. Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hong Joon-pyo denounced the summit as a “show camouflaged as peace.”
But the Koreas made inroads on a raft of other points of friction between them. Moon agreed to visit Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital, sometime in the autumn, and both leaders said they’d meet on a regular basis and exchange calls via a recently established hotline.
They agreed to settle their disagreement over their western maritime border by designating it as a peace area and securing fishing activities for both countries. They said they’d open a permanent communication office in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and resume temporary reunions of relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
“I feel like I’m firing a flare at the starting line in the moment of (the two Koreas) writing a new history in North-South relations, peace and prosperity,” Kim told Moon as they sat at a table, which had been built so that exactly 2018 millimeters separated them, to begin their closed-door talks. Moon responded that there were high expectations that they produce an agreement that will be a “big gift to the entire Korean nation and every peace-loving person in the world.”
Kim acknowledged the widespread skepticism over their summit. “We have reached big agreements before but were unable to fulfill them. … There are skeptical views on whether the meeting today will yield meaningful results,” Kim said. “If we maintain a firm will and proceed forward hand in hand, it will be impossible at least for things to get worse than they are now.”
Kim, during their talks, joked that he would make sure not to interrupt Moon’s sleep anymore, a reference to the North’s drumbeat of early-morning missile tests last year, according to Moon’s spokesman, Yoon Young-chan. Kim also referred to a South Korean island that North Korea attacked with artillery in 2010, killing four, saying the residents of Yeonpyeong Island who have been living in fear of North Korean artillery have high hopes the summit will help heal past scars. Kim said he’d visit Seoul’s presidential Blue House if invited.
The historic greeting of the two leaders, which may be the images most remembered from the summit, was planned to the last detail, though the multiple border crossings may have been impromptu. As thousands of journalists, who were kept in a huge conference center well away from the summit, except for a small group of tightly controlled pool reporters at the border, waited and watched, Moon stood near the Koreas’ dividing line, moving forward the moment he glimpsed Kim, dressed in dark, Mao-style suit, appearing in front of a building on the northern side. They smiled broadly and shook hands with the border line between them. Moon then invited Kim to cross into the South, and, after Kim did so, Moon said, “You have crossed into the South, but when do I get to go across?” Kim replied, “Why don’t we go across now?” and then grasped Moon’s hand and led him into the North and then back into the South.
Moon then led Kim along a blindingly red carpet into South Korean territory, where two fifth-grade students from the Daesongdong Elementary School, the only South Korean school within the DMZ, greeted the leaders and gave Kim flowers. An honor guard stood at attention for inspection, a military band playing traditional Korean folk songs beloved by both Koreas and the South Korean equivalent of “Hail to the Chief.”
They then took a photo inside the Peace House, where the summit took place, in front of a painting of South Korea’s Bukhan Mountain, which towers over the South Korean Blue House presidential mansion and where dozens of North Korean commandos trying to assassinate the then-dictator in Seoul were killed in 1968. Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, was by Kim’s side throughout the ceremony, handing him a pen to sign a guestbook, taking the schoolchildren’s flowers from his hand and scribbling notes at the start of the talks with Moon.
Expectations were generally low on the nuclear issue, given that past so-called breakthroughs on North Korea’s weapons have collapsed amid acrimonious charges of cheating and bad faith. Skeptics of engagement have long said that the North often turns to interminable rounds of diplomacy meant to ease the pain of sanctions — giving it time to perfect its weapons and win aid for unfulfilled nuclear promises.
Advocates of engagement, however, say the only way to get a deal is to do what the Koreas tried Friday: Sit down and see what’s possible.
The White House said in a statement that it is “hopeful that talks will achieve progress toward a future of peace and prosperity for the entire Korean Peninsula. … (and) looks forward to continuing robust discussions in preparation for the planned meeting between President Donald J. Trump and Kim Jong Un in the coming weeks.”
Bill Cosby Convicted Of Drugging And Molesting A Woman
Cosby, 80, could end up spending his final years in prison after a jury concluded he sexually violated Temple University employee Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004. He claimed the encounter was consensual.
The verdict came after a two-week retrial in which prosecutors put five other women on the stand who testified that Cosby, married for 54 years, drugged and violated them, too. One of those women asked him through her tears, “You remember, don’t you, Mr. Cosby?”
The panel of seven men and five women reached a verdict after deliberating 14 hours over two days, vindicating prosecutors’ decision to retry Cosby after his first trial ended with a hung jury less than a year ago.
Cosby could get up to 10 years in prison on each of the three counts of aggravated indecent assault. He is likely to get less than that under state sentencing guidelines, but given his age, even a modest term could mean he will die behind bars.
Constand, 45, a former Temple women’s basketball administrator, told jurors that Cosby knocked her out with three blue pills he called “your friends” and then penetrated her with his fingers as she lay immobilized, unable to resist or say no.
It was the only criminal case to arise from a barrage of allegations from more than 60 women who said the former TV star drugged and molested them over a span of five decades.
“The time for the defendant to escape justice is over,” prosecutor Stewart Ryan said in his closing argument. “It’s finally time for the defendant to dine on the banquet of his own consequences.”
Another prosecutor, Kristen Feden, said Cosby was “nothing like the image that he played on TV” as sweater-wearing, wisdom-dispensing father of five Dr. Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show.”
Cosby’s retrial took place against the backdrop of #MeToo, the movement against sexual misconduct that has taken down powerful men in rapid succession, among them Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Kevin Spacey and Sen. Al Franken.
The jurors all indicated they were aware of #MeToo but said before the trial they could remain impartial. Cosby’s lawyers slammed #MeToo, calling Cosby its victim and likening it to a witch hunt or a lynching.
After failing to win a conviction last year, prosecutors had more courtroom weapons at their disposal for the retrial. The other accusers’ testimony helped move the case beyond a he-said, she-said, allowing prosecutors to argue that Cosby was a menace to women long before he met Constand. Only one other accuser was permitted to testify at Cosby’s first trial.
Cosby’s new defense team, led by Michael Jackson lawyer Tom Mesereau, launched a highly aggressive attack on Constand and the other women.
Their star witness, a longtime Temple employee, testified that Constand once spoke of setting up a prominent person and suing. Constand sued Cosby after prosecutors initially declined to file charges, settling with him for nearly $3.4 million over a decade ago.
“You’re dealing with a pathological liar,” Mesereau told the jury.
His colleague on the defense team, Katheen Bliss, derided the other accusers as home-wreckers and suggested they made up their stories in a bid for money and fame.
But Cosby himself had long ago confirmed sordid revelations about drugs and extramarital sex.
In a deposition he gave over a decade ago as part of Constand’s lawsuit, Cosby acknowledged he had obtained quaaludes to give to women he wanted to have sex with, “the same as a person would say, ‘Have a drink.'” The sedative was a popular party drug before the U.S. banned it more than 30 years ago.
Cosby also acknowledged giving pills to Constand before their sexual encounter. But he identified them as the over-the-counter cold and allergy medicine Benadryl and insisted they were meant to help her relax.
The entertainer broke racial barriers as the first black actor to star in a network show, “I Spy,” in the 1960s. He created the top-ranked “Cosby Show” two decades later. He also found success with his “Fat Albert” animated TV show and served as pitchman for Jello-O pudding.
Later in his career, he attracted controversy for lecturing about social dysfunction in poor black neighborhoods, railing against young people stealing things and wearing baggy pants.
It was Cosby’s reputation as a public moralist that prompted a federal judge, acting in response to a request from The Associated Press, to unseal portions of the deposition.
Its release helped destroy the “Cosby Show” star’s career and good-guy image. It also prompted authorities to reopen the criminal investigation, and he was charged in late 2015.
*The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission. Constand has done so.
Somerset County Sheriff To Suspect In Deputy Killing: ‘Turn yourself in’
NORRIDGEWOCK, Maine (AP) — A Maine county sheriff on Thursday urged a man sought in the killing of a deputy to turn himself in and told a community to stay vigilant during a manhunt in what is believed to be the first killing of a law enforcement officer in Maine in nearly 30 years.
The fatal shooting of Somerset County Cpl. Eugene Cole on Wednesday in Norridgewock triggered an intensive search for 29-year-old John Williams in and around the heavily wooded rural community about 60 miles (96 kilometers) west of Bangor.
“I’m asking John Williams, personally, if you are listening to my words today, I implore you to turn yourself in,” Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster said at a news conference. He said authorities have had no contact with Williams.
Authorities told residents to keep their doors and cars locked, and said officers have been assigned to areas schools. They believe Williams is still in the area.
Lancaster said 175 to 200 officers from multiple agencies have been working on the case and are being assisted by law enforcement in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
State Police Lt. Col. John Cote asked the public for help and stressed the safe return of Williams.
“He is the only one who can answer the questions we have,” Cote said.
Officials said Williams, of Madison, Maine, was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to face gun charges when he killed the sheriff’s deputy, stole his cruiser and robbed a convenience store.
Helicopters, armored vehicles and police cruisers were spotted around Norridgewock, and schools were locked down as federal, state and local law enforcement poured into the region to look for Williams.
Law enforcement officials said he had arrest records in Maine, Tennessee and Massachusetts.
That image contrasts with Williams’ days at Skowhegan High School, where a yearbook showed he once served as a class officer.
“When in school he was a nice, funny and an all-around good guy,” said classmate Casey Sprout-Costa.
Another classmate, Alex Stetkis, said Williams was an honor student who was class president in his junior year. But things went downhill when he started picking fights and getting into drugs.
“Most could not believe it,” Stetkis said of the news that Williams was suspected in the killing. “He was always kind and could have gone anywhere in life if he hadn’t gotten into drugs.”
Williams’ Facebook page features photos of him smiling at a graduation ceremony as well as other photos of him hiking, hanging out with friends and dressed in a suit at a wedding party. His last post in 2017 noted how he was starting a new job in nearby Anson, Maine.
Residents in Norridgewock, a town of about 3,500, were stunned Wednesday as state police and federal agents investigated a home believed to be where Williams lived with his girlfriend.
“We’re a little on edge. It’s unnerving knowing there’s a guy running around out there,” Tasha Raymond said.
The last time someone killed an officer in the line of duty was in 1989, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Gov. Paul LePage expressed his “deepest condolences” to Cole’s family in a tweet.
“If you live in Somerset County and the surrounding area, please cooperate with law enforcement and stay safe,” the Republican governor said. LePage also directed all U.S and state flags to be flown at half-staff for at least three days.
Cole has a son who also is a Somerset County deputy. Lancaster called Cole, a 13-year veteran of the department, an “outstanding employee, one of the finest deputies.”
Associated Press writers David Sharp in Portland, Maine; Kathy McCormack and Michael Casey in Concord, New Hampshire; and Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston contributed to this report.
Delta Dental Mt. Washington Road Race To Start Drug Testing
PINKHAM, NOTCH, NH – Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race Officials have announced that they will institute testing for performance-enhancing drug use, beginning with this year’s race.
The men’s and women’s overall winners, along with other randomly chosen individuals, will be tested immediately following their completion of the all-uphill 7.6-mile footrace on Saturday, June 16.
Howie Wemyss, general manager of the Mt. Washington Auto Road said” We’re taking this step because unfortunately illegal performance-enhancing drug use is creeping into the mountain running scene as it has in other professional endurance sports,” He continued saying ““With this change we intend to maintain and enhance the credibility of winners’ performances and the validity of course records.”
The race organizers will follow standards for testing that are provided by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Officials said that on Mt. Washington, testing will be of urine samples obtained while the athletes to be tested are still at the summit, as soon as possible following the finish. In keeping with WADA practice, they will be chaperoned until their samples are ready to be given.
Paul Kirsch, elite athletes’ liaison for the race, offered this observation about the new policy: “Clean sport is important to keep a level playing field in MUT (Mountain/Ultra/Trail) racing events. I am very glad that the Mt. Washington Race is taking the issue seriously and beginning to drug-test.”
Initial reaction from elite mountain runners familiar with the Mt. Washington race has been similarly positive. “That’s such a great step in the right direction,” said Joe Gray of Colorado Springs, Colo. Gray, who has undergone such testing in races elsewhere, has won the Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race in each of the last four years and also won the 2016 World Mountain Championship. “Hopefully more races will follow Mt. Washington’s lead!”
Kasie Enman of Huntington, Vermont, the 2011 women’s world mountain running champion, added, “There is a perception out there about some MUT races that testing isn’t as stringent, that the door is a little bit open for cheating athletes who want to sneak under the radar. It’s important that we remove that perception and ensure a fair race for all the clean athletes in our sport. Thanks to Mt. Washington Road Race for taking this important step. I’ll be proud to toe the starting line there this June.”
Now in its 58th year, the Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race on June 16 will have racers ascend the Mt. Washington Auto Road from Pinkham Notch, N.H., to the summit of Mt. Washington. For More information about the Northeast Delta Dental Mount Washington Road Race Anti-Doping policy go to https://www.mtwashingtonautoroad.com/mount-washington-road-race/for-racers/race-course-details
Mass Man Found At Luxury Hotel After Triggering Search In White Mountains
PINKHAM’S GRANT, N.H. – A Massachusetts man was located at a luxury hotel after an hours long search in the Presidential Range. According to New Hampshire Fish and Game Officials at 3:48 am Sunday 70–year-old Christophe Chamley was reported as overdue from a hike in the White Mountains by his wife when he didn’t return home.
His family did not have a hiking itinerary for him and Chamley was said to have a medical condition which added urgency.
Rescue teams from NH Fish and Game Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue, Snow Rangers from the US Forest service and snow cat operators from the Mount Washington State park began rescue operations around 10:00 AM.
Rescuers were brought up to the top of Mt. Washington via snow cat and started searching the above tree line trails. While other search teams were deployed on trails below tree line and working up the mountain.
A National Guard Helicopter was brought in and started to search from the air.
While updating the family on the search missions authorities were informed by them that they had just spoke with the Mount Washington Hotel who told them that Chamley had checked in at 1:00 AM on the 23rd. After authorities confirmed that Chamley was in fact at the hotel they called off the search.
Chamley said he had taken a cab from AMC Pinkham to the Appalachia parking lot on route 2 in Randolph leaving there at 7:45AM. He said he summited Mt. Adams and Jefferson while on Jefferson he decided to bail off on the westerly side and go down the Caps Ridge Trail, to Jefferson Notch road to the Base road and down the Base Road to the Mount Washington Hotel checking in at 1:00 AM.
Authorities said that when he arrived at the hotel he sent a message to his wife which did not go through and he did not confirm that she had received his message.
Fish and Game Officials said in a statement “Failure to communicate plans and confirm that loved ones had received his message that he was all right caused the reporting of him overdue coupled with his age and medical condition caused an urgent response from Fish and Game where none was needed. A waste of time money and resources which could have easily been avoided. ”