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Biden, Allies in Berlin to Renew Gaza Truce Call After Hamas Leader Killed

US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
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Biden, Allies in Berlin to Renew Gaza Truce Call After Hamas Leader Killed

US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER
US President Joe Biden leaves the White House to board Marine One, Washington, DC, USA, 17 October 2024. EPA/WILL OLIVER

US President Joe Biden and European leaders meeting during his farewell visit to Germany on Friday were expected to renew calls for a Gaza ceasefire after Israel said it killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
While still on Air Force One, Biden hailed the death of the man Israel blames for the October 7 attack as a "good day", saying it removed a key obstacle to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal, AFP reported.
Biden and the German, British and French leaders were also set to pledge their sustained military support for Ukraine as it fights off Russia's invasion.
Biden's flying 24-hour visit comes as Ukraine faces a third grueling winter at war, and a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his "victory plan" to the European Union and NATO in Brussels.
Biden arrived late Thursday for the Berlin visit, just weeks ahead of a US election in which allies are nervously eyeing a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House.
On Friday Biden is to hold talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Trump, who during his last term berated NATO allies, has also opposed the level of US military support for Ukraine and would be expected to soften US criticism of Israel in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
Biden's meetings in Berlin were expected to address the conflict pitting Israel against Hamas and its Hezbollah allies, including the risk of a wider escalation with Iran.
Biden said Thursday he would "congratulate" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but also "discuss the pathway" for securing the release of hostages and "ending this war once and for all".
"There is now the opportunity for a 'day after' in Gaza without Hamas in power, and for a political settlement that provides a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike," he said.
Scholz, speaking in Brussels Thursday, said "there is a proposal from President Biden and others as to what such a ceasefire could look like and we fully support that".
'Stand with Ukraine'
Now in his last months in office, 81-year-old Biden was originally due in Germany last week for a four-day state visit that would have included a major Ukraine defense meeting with Zelensky.
After canceling that trip to coordinate the response to Hurricane Milton, Biden was at pains to make his valedictory Germany trip nonetheless, with a stripped-down program squeezed into a one-day visit.
Traditionally strong US-German relations soured during the Trump presidency, and Scholz told parliament Thursday that Biden had overseen "an incredible improvement in cooperation".
Biden was to start his visit with a meeting from 0800 GMT with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who was to present him with Germany's highest honor, the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.
Steinmeier's office said this was to recognize Biden's "services to German-American friendship and the transatlantic alliance... in particular in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine".
Zelensky's plan includes a request for an immediate invitation for Kyiv to join NATO and the lifting of restrictions by Western allies on using long-range weapons.
A senior US administration official told AFP ahead of Biden's visit that there was "not consensus at this time" on a NATO invitation.
But the official pointed to a summit of the alliance in July where member states had "affirmed that Ukraine is on an irreversible path to membership".
Despite recent Russian battlefield gains, the US official said that "time is, in fact, on Ukraine's side" and vowed: "We will stand with Ukraine and give it what it needs to prevail."
Macron said at the end of EU summit talks in Brussels that France supported Zelensky's request that Ukraine be regularly invited to NATO summits.
As for the broader question of security guarantees wanted by Kyiv, Macron said: "This is what we will have to discuss" at Friday's talks.
The United States has been by far the biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine since the 2022 Russian invasion, followed by Germany.
Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security advisor, said Biden was seeking "to make our commitment to Ukraine sustainable and institutionalized for the long term".

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North Korea Sending 'Large-scale' Troop Deployment to Russia, Seoul Spy Agency Says

North Korea has decided on a 'large-scale' troop deployment to support Moscow's war in Ukraine, Seoul's spy agency said Friday - AFP
North Korea has decided on a 'large-scale' troop deployment to support Moscow's war in Ukraine, Seoul's spy agency said Friday - AFP
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North Korea Sending 'Large-scale' Troop Deployment to Russia, Seoul Spy Agency Says

North Korea has decided on a 'large-scale' troop deployment to support Moscow's war in Ukraine, Seoul's spy agency said Friday - AFP
North Korea has decided on a 'large-scale' troop deployment to support Moscow's war in Ukraine, Seoul's spy agency said Friday - AFP

North Korea has decided to send a "large-scale" troop deployment to support Moscow's war in Ukraine, with 1,500 special forces already in Russia's Far East and undergoing training, Seoul's spy agency said Friday.

The National Intelligence Service said the North had decided to send thousands of soldiers to help Russia, releasing detailed satellite images it said showed the first deployment.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol convened an emergency security meeting Friday, with Seoul slamming Pyongyang's move as "a significant security threat not only to our country but also to the international community," the president's office said, AFP reported.

The NIS said it had "detected that from the 8th to the 13th (of October), North Korea transported its special forces to Russia via a Russian Navy transport ship, confirming the start of North Korea's military participation" in Russia's war in Ukraine.

According to the NIS, multiple Russian landing ships and frigates have already completed transporting the first contingent of troops, who are currently stationed in military bases across Russia's Far East.

The special forces soldiers "are expected to be deployed to the front lines (of the Ukraine conflict) as soon as they complete acclimatization training," it said.

The soldiers have been issued Russian military uniforms and Russian-made weapons, the NIS said.

"This seems to be an effort to disguise the fact that they are North Korean troops by making them appear as Russian soldiers," NIS added.

More troops are likely to be sent soon, NIS said, adding that it estimated the North could send around 12,000 soldiers in total.

"A second transport operation is expected to take place soon," it said.

- Artillery shells, missiles -

Pyongyang and Moscow have been allies since North Korea's founding after World War II and have drawn even closer since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with Seoul and Washington long claiming that Kim Jong Un has been sending weapons for use in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to Pyongyang in June, with the two countries signing a mutual defense treaty, fuelling speculations of further arms transfers -- which violate rafts of UN sanctions on both countries.

The NIS said Friday that the North had "provided Russia with more than 13,000 containers' worth of artillery shells, missiles, anti-tank rockets and other lethal weapons" since last August.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had flagged Thursday intelligence reports saying North Korea was training 10,000 soldiers to support Russia in its fight against Kyiv.

Zelensky suggested that Russia is relying on North Korean troops to compensate for its substantial losses, as many young Russians seek to avoid conscription.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian media reported that six North Korean military officers were killed in a Ukrainian missile attack on Russian-occupied territory near Donetsk on October 3.

Seoul's defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, told lawmakers at the time that it was "highly likely" that the report was true.

Experts said that moving from supplying shells to soldiers to Russia was the logical next step.

"For North Korea, which has supplied Russia with many shells and missiles, it's crucial to learn how to handle different weapons and gain real-world combat experience," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies.

"This might even be a driving factor behind sending North Korean soldiers -- to provide them with diverse experiences and war-time training," he told AFP.