DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

The recent leak of classified Defense Department documents, which show that the United States has been gathering intelligence on its ally South Korea, will not affect the relationship between the two countries, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol told NBC News in an exclusive interview. The interview came as he and President Joe Biden meet this week to discuss North Korea, China and other pressing challenges. U.S. and South Korean officials have said that much of the information in the documents is inaccurate and may have been altered, without providing further specifics. The South Korean officials also saw the need for the government to formulate a clear position on the matter in case the White House pressed the issue. "President Yoon in particular, unlike previous [South Korean] presidents, really has emphasized freedom and democracy as a core theme of his foreign policy," Cha told a news briefing last week.

“We need to have tabletop exercises that go through a variety of scenarios, including possibly nuclear weapons,” a senior official told CNN earlier this month. Leaks loomRecent online leaks of Pentagon documents involving South Korea also loom over the visit. One of the leaked documents describes, in remarkable detail, a conversation between two senior South Korean national security officials about concerns by the country’s National Security Council over a US request for ammunition. Plans and pompWednesday’s events mark just the second state visit of the Biden presidency (Biden hosted French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte in December 2022). President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden, South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee visit the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, Tuesday.

[1/6] Philippines Air Force Acting Commanding General Ramon Guiang, Assistant Secretary of the Office of American Affairs Jose Victor Chan-Gonzaga, Philippines defence chief Carlito Galvez Jr., U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall; U.S. REUTERS/Eloisa LopezBASA AIR BASE, Philippines, March 20 (Reuters) - The United States and Philippines will announce new sites as soon as possible for an expanded Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which gives the Western power access to military bases in the Southeast Asian country. Leaders of local governments at the potential EDCA sites have backed the government's decision to allow the United States greater access to the bases, Philippines' defence chief, Carlito Galvez, said in a joint news conference with Kendall. Galvez and Kendall were leading a groundbreaking ceremony for the rehabilitation of the Basa Air Base's runway. The runway rehabilitation is part of $82 million the United States has allocated for infrastructure investments at the existing five EDCA sites.

☆ North Korea and Russia are ramping up trade in oil, coal and weapons as Ukraine war sanctions send Moscow to pariah state
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Phil Rosen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new CSIS report analyzed satellite imagery that suggests significantly increased trade between Russia and North Korea. Wartime sanctions have pushed Moscow to turn to railroad trade with Pyongyang, the researchers wrote. Trade between North Korea and Russia hit roughly $48 million in 2019, International Trade Centre data compiled by the Wall Street Journal shows. That dropped to nearly zero in 2021, with North Korea closing off its borders during the pandemic. Similarly, over recent years, Russia has sided with North Korea in geopolitical conversations over sanctions on the Kim Jong-un's regime.

☆ Biden will seek to establish red lines in high stakes meeting with China’s Xi
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Peter Nicholas | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Carol-Lee-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

Even so, the White House is downplaying any hope of a major breakthrough when Biden sits down with Xi in person. “I don’t think personal diplomacy will help that much,” said Victor Cha, a former director for Asian affairs in George W. Bush’s White House. The Biden administration sees Xi as the leader of a bullying nation with visions of global dominance. “We recognize that with each launch, [the North Koreans] learn something,” the senior Biden administration official said. But like Biden, Xi will also arrive at the meeting having fortified his position at home.

☆ North Korea denies supplying weapons to Russia for war in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said on Tuesday it has never had arms dealings with Russia and has no plans to do so, its state media reported, after the United States said North Korea appears to be supplying Russia with artillery shells for its war in Ukraine. White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said last week the United States has information that indicates North Korea is covertly supplying Russia with a “significant” number of artillery shells. Kirby said North Korea was attempting to obscure the shipments by funnelling them through countries in the Middle East and North Africa and that Washington was monitoring to see whether the shipments are received. North Korea was one of the only countries to recognize the independence of breakaway Ukrainian regions, and it has expressed support for Russia’s proclaimed annexation of parts of Ukraine. “North Korea is clearly using the Ukraine war to tighten its relations with Russia,” Victor Cha, of the U.S.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said in a statement.

☆ North Korea denies arms dealings with Russia, says it has no plans to do so
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Soo-Hyang Choi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A general view shows a drill by North Korean Korean People's Army (KPA) artillery units on the front in this image released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang December 2, 2016. KCNA/ via REUTERSSEOUL, Nov 8 (Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday it has never had arms dealings with Russia and has no plans to do so, its state media reported, after the United States said North Korea appears to be supplying Russia with artillery shells for its war in Ukraine. White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said last week the United States has information that indicates North Korea is covertly supplying Russia with a "significant" number of artillery shells. A North Korean defence ministry official called the allegations a rumour and said Pyongyang has "never had 'arms dealings' with Russia" and has "no plan to do so in the future." North Korea was one of the only countries to recognise the independence of breakaway Ukrainian regions, and it has expressed support for Russia's proclaimed annexation of parts of Ukraine.

☆ French lawmaker accused of racist comment in Parliament
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

The president of the lower house of the French Parliament, Yaël Braun-Pivet, subsequently suspended the legislative session. Charities helping the migrants have appealed to the French government to take them in or help find a solution. Party spokesman Victor Chabert said de Fournas was referring to migrants at sea in his Africa remark and not, as some in French media wondered, to his fellow lawmaker. Reacting to the event, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that “racism has no place in our democracy.”She said the chamber “will have to take sanctions” over de Fournas’ remark without elaborating what those might be. National Rally’s leader, Marine Le Pen, lost her second bid for the French presidency to Macron in April.

☆ Ethos scores a $2 billion valuation after raising a $200 million to disrupt life insurance
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-13 | by ( Victor Chatenay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

US-based insurtech Ethos achieved a $2 billion valuation following a $200-million Series D round. Get a daily newsletter packed with financial services data, insights, and analysis from the Insider Intelligence team. Founded in 2016, Ethos offers both term and whole life insurance underwritten by partner carriers . It can take weeks for consumers to access life insurance coverage due to back and forth with incumbents, often including a doctor's visit and blood tests. And booking such exams got harder last year as doctors were called to the pandemic fight, making life insurance applications all the more arduous.

Persons: insurtech, Jay, Robert Downey Jr, Will Smith, insurtechs Organizations: Intelligence, Insider Intelligence, Banking, Insider Inc, Service, Ethos

Search resuls for: "Victor Cha"

9 mentions found