Kim’s Sister Threatens Response to US Carrier’s Deployment in South Korea 

US MH-60 Seahawk helicopters are seen on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson at a port in Busan, South Korea, Monday, March 3, 2025. (Reuters)
US MH-60 Seahawk helicopters are seen on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson at a port in Busan, South Korea, Monday, March 3, 2025. (Reuters)
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Kim’s Sister Threatens Response to US Carrier’s Deployment in South Korea 

US MH-60 Seahawk helicopters are seen on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson at a port in Busan, South Korea, Monday, March 3, 2025. (Reuters)
US MH-60 Seahawk helicopters are seen on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson at a port in Busan, South Korea, Monday, March 3, 2025. (Reuters)

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened Tuesday to launch high-profile provocations in response to the arrival of a US aircraft carrier in South Korea and other US military activities, which she slammed as “confrontation hysteria of the US and its stooges.”

The warning by Kim Yo Jong implies North Korea will likely ramp up weapons testing activities and maintain its confrontational posture against the US, though President Donald Trump has said he would reach out to Kim Jong Un to revive diplomacy.

In a statement carried by state media, Kim Yo Jong accused the US of clearly showing “its most hostile and confrontational will” to North Korea with the deployments of the USS Carl Vinson and other powerful US military assets and US-South Korean military drills this year.

“The DPRK is also planning to carefully examine the option for increasing the actions threatening the security of the enemy at the strategic level to cope with the fact that the deployment of US strategic assets in the Korean Peninsula has become a vicious habit and adversely affects the security of the DPRK,” she said, using the acronym of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Her statement suggests North Korea may test-launch powerful missiles designed to strike the mainland US or American military bases in the region, observers say.

South Korea’s Defense Ministry warned later it’s ready to repel any provocations by North Korea based on a solid military alliance with the US. A ministry statement called Kim Yo Jong’s warning “sophistry” meant to justify her country's nuclear development and future provocations.

On Sunday, the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group arrived in South Korea, the latest temporary deployment of a US strategic asset aimed at displaying the firmness of the U.S-South Korean military alliance in the face of North Korean threats and boosting interoperability of the allies’ combined assets. The US carrier’s arrival came four days after North Korea conducted cruise missile tests, its fourth missile launch event this year.

North Korea views arrivals of such powerful US military assets in South Korea as major security threats and often responds with missile tests.

North Korea hasn’t directly responded to Trump’s overture but alleged US-led hostilities against North Korea have intensified since the start of Trump’s second term in January.

Experts say Kim Jong Un won’t likely embrace Trump’s outreach anytime soon as he is now focusing on his support of Russia’s war against Ukraine with supply of weapons and troops. They say Kim could consider returning to diplomacy with Trump when he thinks he cannot maintain his country’s current booming cooperation with Russia

Kim and Trump met three times from 2018-19 during Trump’s first term to discuss the future of North Korea’s nuclear program. Their high-stakes diplomacy eventually collapsed due to wrangling over US-led economic sanctions on North Korea.



EU Sanctions Iranian Individuals Accused of Targeting Dissidents

European Union flags fly outside the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
European Union flags fly outside the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
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EU Sanctions Iranian Individuals Accused of Targeting Dissidents

European Union flags fly outside the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
European Union flags fly outside the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium November 8, 2023. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

The EU has imposed sanctions on eight people and one entity responsible for the targeting of Iranian dissidents for assassination on behalf of Iran's government, the European Council said in a statement on Tuesday.

The sanctions, over what it called "serious human rights violations" and "transnational repression", included asset freezes and travel bans, the council said.

The Council listed the Zindashti Network, which it said was a criminal group uconnected to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security that has carried out numerous acts of transnational repression, including assassinations of Iranian dissidents, Reuters reported.

It also included the Zindashti Network's boss Naji Ibrahim Sharifi-Zindashti - who it said was an Iranian narcotics trafficker and organised crime boss - and some of his associates. Zindashti and his network have previously been sanctioned by the United States.

The Council, the European Union's governing body, is also targeting Mohammed Ansari, the leader of the Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Unit 840, who it said ordered the assassination of journalists critical of the Iran.

It said that the listings confirmed the EU’s concerns about transnational repression by Iranian state bodies through the use of proxy agents, in particular involving criminals and organised crime networks targeting dissidents and human rights defenders across the world, including on EU territory.