Putin praises North Korea for supporting war in Ukraine en route to rare visit

Putin praises North Korea for supporting war in Ukraine en route to rare visit

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea for supporting his actions in Ukraine and said their countries will co-operate closely to overcome U.S.-led sanctions, as he headed to Pyongyang on Tuesday for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Putin’s comments appeared in an op-ed piece in North Korean state media hours before he was expected to arrive for a two-day visit as the countries deepen their alignment in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with Washington.

Putin, who will be making his first trip to North Korea since his first year as Russian president in 2000, said he highly appreciates its firm support of his invasion of Ukraine. He said the countries would continue to “resolutely oppose” what he described as Western ambitions “to hinder the establishment of a multipolarized world order based on mutual respect for justice.”

Putin also said Russia and North Korea will develop trade and payment systems “that are not controlled by the West” and jointly oppose sanctions against the countries, which he described as “unilateral and illegal restrictive measures.”

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Putin said the countries will also expand co-operation in tourism, culture and education.

North Korea is under heavy UN Security Council economic sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile programs, while Russia is also grappling with sanctions by the United States and its Western partners over its aggression in Ukraine.

Putin has limited his foreign travel since sending troops in to invade Ukraine in 2022, a decision that led to an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. After North Korea, Putin will visit Vietnam, which is also not a signatory to the jurisdiction of the ICC.

Putin’s visit comes amid growing concerns about an arms arrangement in which Pyongyang provides Moscow with badly needed munitions to fuel Russia’s war in Ukraine in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that would enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile program.

In Pyongyang, streets were decorated with Putin’s portraits and Russian flags. A banner hung on a building said: “We warmly welcome the President of the Russian Federation.”

Accusations, denials of weapon use in Ukraine

John Kirby, spokesperson of the U.S. National Security Council, said the deepening relationship between Moscow and Pyongyang is concerning, “not just because of the impacts it’s going to have on the Ukrainian people, because we know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets, but because there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean Peninsula.”

“We haven’t seen the parameters of all of that right now, certainly haven’t seen it come to fruition. But we’re certainly going to be watching that very, very closely,” he said.

Military, economic and other exchanges between North Korea and Russia have sharply increased since Kim visited Russia in September for a meeting with Putin, their first since 2019.

U.S. and South Korean officials have accused the North of providing Russia with artillery, missiles and other military equipment to help prolong the war in Ukraine, possibly in return for key military technologies and aid. Both Pyongyang and Moscow have denied accusations about North Korean weapons transfers.

Along with China, Russia has provided political cover for Kim’s continuing efforts to advance his nuclear arsenal, repeatedly blocking U.S.-led efforts to impose fresh UN sanctions on the North over its weapons tests.

In March, a Russian veto at the United Nations ended monitoring of UN sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, prompting Western accusations that Moscow is seeking to avoid scrutiny as it buys weapons from Pyongyang for use in Ukraine. 

Lim Soosuk, spokesperson of South Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said Seoul has been stressing to Moscow that any co-operation between Russia and North Korea must not “proceed in a direction that violates UN Security Council resolutions or undermines peace and stability in the region.”

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Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest point in years, with the pace of both Kim’s weapons tests and the combined military exercises between the United States, South Korea and Japan intensifying in a cycle of tit-for-tat. The Koreas have also engaged in a Cold War-style psychological warfare that involved North Korea dropping tons of trash on the South with balloons and the South broadcasting anti-Korean propaganda broadcasts with its loudspeakers.

South Korea’s military said soldiers fired warning shots to repel North Korean soldiers who temporarily crossed the rivals’ land border Tuesday for the second time this month. The South’s military said North Korea has been increasing construction activity in front-line border areas, such as installing suspected anti-tank barriers, reinforcing roads and planting land mines.

Published at Tue, 18 Jun 2024 12:09:45 +0000

Major League Baseball is coming to America’s oldest ballpark — here’s why it matters

This week, in Birmingham, Ala., baseball fans will gather for a game like no other. The San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals will play at Rickwood Field, the oldest professional baseball park in the United States.

But that’s not all that makes Rickwood special. It is also the historic home of the Birmingham Black Barons, which played in the Negro Leagues between the 1920s and the 1960s — and that included baseball legend Willie Mays.

The game will be a significant moment in baseball history, as it will be the first regular-season Major League Baseball (MLB) game to be played there. The game will honour the Negro Leagues, which were made up of Black players who were excluded from the majors. In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke MLB’s colour barrier when he debuted for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

It will be held on June 20, a day after Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

“I think it’s going to be a monumental occasion on Thursday,” said Gerald Watkins, chair and executive director of Friends of Rickwood, a non-profit dedicated to preserving the park.

“This is a way to share a great story, bring attention to MLB that hasn’t been brought before, and educate a lot of people in America on the Negro Leagues and their importance.”

Here’s what you need to know.

Why is this happening?

It all goes back to the Field of Dreams. On Aug. 13, 2021, the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees played a regular-season game in Dyersville, Iowa, the site of the beloved 1989 movie, Field of Dreams. 

“As a sport that is proud of its history linking generations, Major League Baseball is excited to bring a regular-season game to the site of Field of Dreams,” commissioner Rob Manfred said at the time.

“We look forward to celebrating the movie’s enduring message of how baseball brings people together at this special cornfield in Iowa.” 

The White Sox won 9-8. The event gave Watkins an idea: What if MLB came to Rickwood? 

“I envisioned Willie Mays, standing in the outfield, dreaming about being a big-league ballplayer,” Watkins told CBC News. 

“I pitched that to MLB, and they got interested and came down, and we’ve been working with them nonstop to try to get ready. I’d say we’re in the eighth inning now. We’re almost there.”

The 10,800-seat ballpark, which has been renovated, will be filled with all sorts of nostalgia, like copies of old jerseys to help fans connect with its history.

The players will be wearing special uniforms that pay homage to the Negro Leagues in their respective cities.

What makes Rickwood Field so special?

The park, which opened in 1910, has been home to 182 players who became Hall of Famers both in MLB and the Negro Leagues. But it’s never been home to a major league team.

Some of the biggest and most memorable names in baseball history have played there, including Babe Ruth, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson and Jay Dean, better known as Dizzy Dean, a pitcher who helped the Cardinals win a World Series title in 1934.

Both the Birmingham Barons and Black Barons played there, filling the stands every weekend. Willie Mays joined the Black Barons in 1948 as a teenager and soon signed with the San Francisco Giants; he played with the team from 1951 to 1972.

Mays, now 93, said that growing up nearby, Rickwood Field was “like a church.” 

“The first big thing I ever put my mind to was to play at Rickwood Field. It wasn’t a dream. It was something I was going to do,” he said Monday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“Rickwood Field is where I played my first home game, and playing there was IT; everything I ever wanted.”

Mays won’t be able to attend Thursday’s game, saying he doesn’t move as well as he used to. He will, however, be watching on television.

What else is MLB doing to honour Negro Leagues players?

Earlier this month, MLB announced it will update its database to include seven Negro Leagues to correct a “long-time oversight.” Its release will co-ordinate with the Rickwood Field game.

All of this is welcome news for Ferguson “Fergie” Jenkins, the first Canadian player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

“There’s just a lot of different past history, a lot of things that people don’t know about the game of baseball and how it evolved and didn’t have players of colour play,” he told CBC News. 

“I don’t think the game would be as strong [without it].”

Now in his 80s, Jenkins has fond memories of pitching at Rickwood Field during the 1964 All-Star Game with the Chattanooga Lookouts. He was also a guest of honour at the park in 2013 for the 18th Annual Rickwood Classic, honouring the Birmingham Black Barons.

Will Thursday’s game have a lasting impact?

Rickwood Field is already a popular tourist destination, but Watkins of the Friends of Rickwood hopes the MLB game will launch it into another league.

He also hopes it will encourage more Black youth to take an interest in baseball and, perhaps someday, play on professional teams themselves.

But even if they only watch part of the game or Google a Negro Leagues player, that will help them understand history, he said.

“I think when all of this is said and done, America is going to have a different view of baseball, and the African American kids and fans are going to have a more inclusive feel,” he said. “And hopefully, it’ll be better for our entire game.”

The proportion of Black players currently in MLB is at one of its lowest points, he noted. Indeed, a spokesperson for the league recently told the Los Angeles Daily News that about six per cent of its players are Black.

Other efforts are also afoot to further representation in baseball. The non-profit Players’ Alliance emerged in 2020 to address equity and inclusion in baseball; the following year, MLB pledged at least $100 million US to the organization over 10 years to increase Black representation.

Published at Tue, 18 Jun 2024 08:00:17 +0000