Azerbaijan commemorates Khojaly massacre

The Azerbaijani Embassy in Seoul marked the 32nd anniversary of the Khojaly massacre, hosting a symposium on Wednesday.
Remembering the victims, the embassy reiterated that massacre was carried out by Armenian forces, killing 613 Azerbaijani civilians, including 106 women and 63 children, in the tragic event of 1992. Azerbaijan views the attack as a deliberate act of genocide, referencing the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide.
The massacre occurred during the 1990s Azerbaijan-Armenia war, with Armenia disputing the death toll and blaming Azeri soldiers and poor civilian evacuation.
"Commemorating the innocent victims of this genocide is a moral duty," stressed Azerbaijani Ambassador to Korea Ramin Hasanov in his remarks at the symposium.
"Unfortunately, we had to wait more than 30 years for justice to prevail for the tragedies and crimes committed against our people," he said.
Meanwhile, the ambassador urged Korea to step up cooperation with Korean expertise in the Garabagh and East Zangezur regions of Azerbaijan, which have been declared 'green zones.'
"Infrastructure and all activities over there will be exclusively facilitated only with green energy. Numerous smart villages, smart cities, wind energy parks, and solar energy systems are currently under construction," stressed the ambassador.
Azerbaijan declared 2024 as the Year of Solidarity for a Green World and hosted COP29, attended by 80 heads of state and government, affirming its strong commitment to global climate action.
"These developments have created momentum for Azerbaijan and Korea to combine their willingness and strengths towards close cooperation in the said fields, both in a bilateral format and within multilateral institutions," he said.
"Amid the ongoing geopolitical challenges and conflicts in the world, Azerbaijan and Korea, as loyal supporters of international law and advocates for international commitments, could closely cooperate and coordinate their endeavors in terms of regional and global affairs."
"Korea, in its capacity as a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council, which will last till the end of this year, can count on my country's cooperation in its efforts to this end," he added.
The event was attended by over 100 guests, including members of the diplomatic corps, NGOs, Azerbaijani community members in Korea, and media representatives.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Korea Herald

4 days ago

• Korea Herald

US calls Russia's use of NK workers, soldiers for operations against Ukraine 'deeply concerning'

The United States on Tuesday described Russia's continued use of North Korean workers and troops for operations against Ukraine as "deeply concerning," after Russian media reported Pyongyang will send additional 6,000 military workers and sappers to Russia's front-line Kursk region. A State Department spokesperson made the remarks, underscoring that the income generation by North Korean workers in Russia and other foreign countries constitutes a violation of a UN Security Council resolution. TASS, a Russian news agency, has reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has decided to send 5,000 military construction workers and 1,000 sappers to Russia, after Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu visited Pyongyang this week. "Russia's continued use of North Korean workers and soldiers to support its military operations against Ukraine is deeply concerning," the spokesperson said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency. "The North Korean regime correspondingly is now relying on Russia to provide it with desperately needed funds in exchange for labor and soldier for hire schemes," the official added. The spokesperson also stressed that North Korean workers financially support Pyongyang's "unlawful" weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, and that the overseas workers, including in Russia, are generating income in breach of a UNSC resolution. (Yonhap)

Korea Herald

02-06-2025

• Korea Herald

Pyongyang slams monitoring group's report on N. Korea-Russia military cooperation

North Korea on Monday denounced a monitoring group on the enforcement of UN sanctions against Pyongyang for issuing a report on military cooperation between the North and Russia, calling the move a violation of a state's sovereign rights. The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team on Thursday issued the first report detailing illegal military cooperation carried out between North Korea and Russia in violation of UN Security Council resolutions against Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. The chief of the external policy office at North Korea's foreign ministry said the MSMT committed a "political provocation" by fabricating a report taking issue with cooperative ties between the North and Russia, according to the Korean Central News Agency. Calling the MSMT a "bogus group which has no legality in terms of existence and purpose," the official said the report is a "wanton" violation of international legal principles centering on sovereignty equality and non-interference in others' internal affairs. "We give stern warning against the negative consequences to be entailed by its reckless acts," the North's official said in a statement carried by the KCNA. North Korea said the MSMT is a "political tool" operating in line with the West's geopolitical interests, stressing, "It has no justification to investigate the exercise of sovereign rights of other countries," according to the KCNA. In response, South Korea's foreign ministry defended the MSMT's activities as legitimate and in line with the international obligations to enforce and monitor compliance with UN sanctions against North Korea. The ministry noted that North Korea-Russia military cooperation is a "clear violation" of UN Security Council resolutions banning arms trade with North Korea, calling such resolutions legally binding for all UN member stages. It rejected the North's claim of a sovereignty violation as an "absurd" argument that disregards the authority of the security council and the international obligation to comply with its resolutions. The MSMT was established in October last year with the initiative of South Korea and the United States to continue the sanctions monitoring of North Korea following the disbandment of the UN Panel of Experts on North Korean sanctions monitoring due to Russia's veto.

Korea Herald

01-06-2025

• Korea Herald

[Lee Kyong-hee] Pressure mounts for inter-Korean detente

When the new president takes office in two days, he will face a host of pressing tasks. Among the main challenges will be the division of the Korean Peninsula, which still festers more than 70 years after fighting ended. As we have seen more than a few times, the North-South divide is often used for political gain. Ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol was the latest high official to employ a 'Red Scare' strategy to stifle political opponents. In his declaration of martial law, Yoon said he would eliminate the 'anti-state, pro-North communist sympathizers threatening to overthrow the constitutional order of our liberal democracy and plundering the freedom and happiness of our people.' Yoon didn't realize that claiming "communist infiltration" had grown so deep as to imperil the nation, provokes skepticism and questions about judgment and leadership, not fear. Nevertheless, Yoon's clumsy self-putsch once again highlighted the fact that the ideological divide in South Korea has little chance of ending without addressing problems derived from territorial division. Besides peace on the peninsula, political and social progress within the South is at stake. Considering the geopolitical backdrop, this task has taken on more urgency. The new South Korean president will be under instant pressure to finesse a high tariff threat from US President Donald Trump. And he must be mindful that Trump will likely resume his 'bromance' with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un sooner or later to strike a deal. There will be no time to spare in the first months of the new administration. North Korea is clearly in a different place now than it was in 2018, when Kim wanted Seoul to lay a bridge to Washington for summit talks with Trump in his first presidency. While the Biden administration remained idle and Yoon indulged in belligerent rhetoric, Kim's rogue regime has grown stronger and more dangerous, demonstrating stunning resilience to endure even the harshest difficulties. It has continued to advance its nuclear and missile technologies, stealing cryptocurrency, earning billions of dollars from troop commitments and arms sales to Russia and learning battleground lessons in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin is providing North Korea with security guarantees, as well as food and fuel, under a mutual defense treaty. The UN sanctions against North Korea have effectively been invalidated, with neither Moscow nor Beijing abiding by UN Security Council resolutions. Total bilateral trade between North Korea and China, which accounts for most of the North's foreign trade, has also increased remarkably. Now, with an estimated 50 nuclear weapons and enough material for some 40 more, Kim has a lot more cards and leverage than ever before. It is unrealistic to expect Kim to surrender his entire nuclear capabilities in return for lifting sanctions or in response to heightened pressure. In this light, the only plausible way to bring Kim to the table appears to be dramatically enlarging the scale of incentives. There is speculation that Trump, the dealmaker, will likely make huge concessions in his fourth summit with Kim to yield tangible results. He has probably realized that the tough, conventional pursuit of genuine denuclearization has become pointless, and therefore will likely seek a 'small deal' based on arms control. Under the 'America First' agenda, the agreement may focus on more realistic goals, such as North Korea's commitment to a moratorium on further nuclear tests and provocative ICBM launches, stopping the transfer of weapons of mass destruction technology to third parties, ending aggressive cyber operations against Western targets, and withdrawal of offensive weaponry deployed near the Korean DMZ. In return, the agreement may include an end-of-war declaration, or even a peace treaty on the Korean Peninsula and formal diplomatic relations between the United States and North Korea. These provisions would help alleviate security fears on the part of South Korea and Japan, while having important benefits for the United States, such as reducing defense spending and redeployment of troops. Trump may further expand the deal to link peace in Northeast Asia with that in Ukraine. North Korea may be asked to stop sending troops and ammunition to Russia, which would push Putin to stop fighting and help Trump cut US spending in Ukraine. Since North Korean supplies have accounted for 50 percent of Russian artillery fires in Ukraine, a ceasefire could be made sustainable. South Korea's new administration should be prepared to smartly position itself in the negotiation process, while seeking separate dialogue with Pyongyang to discuss bilateral issues, including humanitarian assistance and cross-border economic cooperation. No less crucial would be clarifying its stance with Washington concerning possible reductions in US Forces Korea and enhancing deterrence by securing nuclear latency through renegotiating provisions in the Korea-US civil nuclear agreement banning South Korea's enrichment and reprocessing of nuclear fuel. The new administration will need to think outside the box to lead the nation through a challenging time toward common prosperity on the divided peninsula, even if reunification remains a long-term goal. Mold-breaking thinking and brave moves are required in times of crisis. The new president needs to show extraordinary leadership by listening to different public views and crafting a suprapartisan consensus regarding inter-Korean issues across a polarized divide.