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US, South Korea, Japan Raise Concerns over Russia-North Korea Military Cooperation

A handout photo made available by South Korean Foreign Ministry shows (L-R) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin posing for a photo during a meeting in New York, USA 22 September 2023. (EPA/South Korean Foreign Ministry)
A handout photo made available by South Korean Foreign Ministry shows (L-R) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin posing for a photo during a meeting in New York, USA 22 September 2023. (EPA/South Korean Foreign Ministry)
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US, South Korea, Japan Raise Concerns over Russia-North Korea Military Cooperation

A handout photo made available by South Korean Foreign Ministry shows (L-R) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin posing for a photo during a meeting in New York, USA 22 September 2023. (EPA/South Korean Foreign Ministry)
A handout photo made available by South Korean Foreign Ministry shows (L-R) US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin posing for a photo during a meeting in New York, USA 22 September 2023. (EPA/South Korean Foreign Ministry)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and South Korean, Japanese counterparts expressed "serious concern" over the discussion of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, including possible arms trade, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said on Saturday.

Blinken, South Korea's Foreign Minister Park Jin and Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa agreed to respond firmly to any acts that threaten regional security in violation of UN Security Council resolution in a brief meeting on Friday, the ministry said in a statement.

North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un made a weeklong visit to Russia last week and discussed military cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

US and South Korean officials have expressed concern that the summit was aimed at allowing Russia to acquire ammunition from the North to supplement its dwindling stocks for its war in Ukraine.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Wednesday that if Russia helped North Korea enhance its weapons programs in return for assistance for its war in Ukraine, it would be "a direct provocation" and Seoul and its allies would not stand idly by.

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UN Says Iran Executed over 900 People in 2024, Including Dozens of Women

Iranians visit the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, on January 7, 2025. (AFP)
Iranians visit the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, on January 7, 2025. (AFP)
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UN Says Iran Executed over 900 People in 2024, Including Dozens of Women

Iranians visit the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, on January 7, 2025. (AFP)
Iranians visit the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, on January 7, 2025. (AFP)

The number of people executed in Iran rose to 901 last year, including 31 women, some of whom were convicted of murdering their husbands after suffering abuse or being forced into marriage, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.

Most of the executions were for drug-related offenses, but political dissidents and people connected with mass protests in 2022 over the death in police custody of a 22-year-old woman were also among the victims, the UN statement said.

"It is deeply disturbing that yet again we see an increase in the number of people subjected to the death penalty in Iran year-on-year," United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in a statement sent to journalists. "It is high time Iran stemmed this ever-swelling tide of executions."

In total, at least 901 people were executed by hanging last year in the country, compared with 853 in 2023, the UN rights office said. That represented the highest number since 2015, when 972 people were executed.

The 2022 protests, which sparked some of the worst turmoil since the 1979 revolution, followed the death in police custody of Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly flouting Iran's mandatory dress code.

At least 31 women were executed in 2024, UN rights office spokesperson Liz Throssell told reporters at a Geneva press briefing, representing what she said was the highest number in at least 15 years.

"The majority of cases involved charges of murder. A significant number of the women were victims of domestic violence, child marriage or forced marriage," she added.

Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist who won election as Iran's president in July 2024, made promises during his campaign to better protect the rights of women and minorities.