VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spent an extra night Friday at the country's research station in Antarctica after the military aircraft she was meant to be travelling back to New Zealand on broke down.

Ardern has been in Antarctica meeting with the country's scientists and visiting the sites of historical importance while promoting the need for co-operation in the region.

A spokeswoman for the prime minister said on Saturday that Ardern and those travelling with her are due to return Saturday on a Italian C-13 Hercules military aircraft.

Ardern flew on a U.S. military plane to Antarctica after her first flight had to turn back midflight due to bad weather.

New Zealand is one of seven countries, including Australia, France and Chile, with a territorial claim to Antarctica. (Reuters)

The United States said on Friday its policy towards North Korea had not changed after a senior U.S. official responsible for nuclear policy raised some eyebrows by saying Washington would be willing to engage in arms-control talks with Pyongyang.

Some experts argue that recognizing North Korea as a nuclear-armed state, something Pyongyang seeks, is a prerequisite for such talks. But Washington has long argued that the North Korean nuclear program is illegal and subject to United Nations sanctions.

Bonnie Jenkins, State Department under secretary for arms control, was asked at a Washington nuclear conference on Thursday at which point North Korea should be treated as an arms-control problem.

"If they would have a conversation with us ... arms control can always be an option if you have two willing countries willing to sit down at the table and talk," she replied.

"And not just arms control, but risk reduction - everything that leads up to a traditional arms-control treaty and all the different aspects of arms control that we can have with them. We’ve made it very clear to the DPRK ... that we’re ready to talk to them - we have no pre-conditions," she said, referring to North Korea by the initials of its official name.

Referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, she added: "If he picked up the phone and said, 'I want to talk about arms control,' we're not going to say no. I think, if anything, we would want to explore what that means."

The United States and its allies are concerned that North Korea may be about to resume nuclear bomb testing for the first time since 2017, something that would be highly unwelcome to the Biden administration ahead of mid-term elections early next month. North Korea has rejected U.S. calls to return to talks.

Asked about Jenkins' comment, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said: "I want to be very clear about this. There has been no change to U.S. policy."

Price said U.S. policy remained "the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," while adding, "we continue to be open to diplomacy with the DPRK, we continue to reach out to the DPRK, we're committed to pursuing a diplomatic approach. We're prepared to meet without preconditions and we call on the DPRK to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy."

'KIM JONG UN'S TRAP'

Speaking on Friday at the same nuclear policy conference Jenkins addressed, Alexandra Bell, another senior State Department arms-control official, also stressed there was no change in U.S. policy.

Asked if it was time to accept North Korea as a nuclear state, she replied: "Wording aside, we are committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. We do not accept North Korea with that status. But we are interested in having a conversation with the North Koreans."

Daniel Russel, the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia under then-President Barack Obama and now with the Asia Society, told Reuters Jenkins had "fallen straight into Kim Jong Un's trap" with her remarks.

"Suggesting that North Korea only has to agree to have a conversation with the U.S. about arms control and risk reduction is a terrible mistake, because it moves the issue from North Korea’s right to possess nuclear weapons to the question of how many it should have and how they are used," he said.

"Kim would love nothing better than to push his risk reduction agenda — the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea."

Other experts played down Jenkins' remarks.

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the U.S.-based Arms Control Association, said she was not making a statement recognizing North Korea as a nuclear weapons state under the international Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"She was acknowledging, as other officials in other administrations have, that North Korea does have nuclear weapons, but in violation of its commitments under the NPT not to pursue nuclear weapons," he told Reuters.

Kimball and Toby Dalton, a nuclear expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which hosted the nuclear conference, said they did not see formal recognition as a nuclear-armed state as a prerequisite for arms-control talks. Dalton said Jenkins appeared essentially to be restating the U.S. position that it was willing to talk to Pyongyang without preconditions. (Reuters)

U.S. President Joe Biden will travel to Egypt to participate in the COP27 United Nations climate change summit on Nov. 11, where he will call on the world to act "in this decisive decade", the White House said on Friday.

Biden will then travel to Cambodia from Nov. 12-13 to participate in the annual U.S.-ASEAN summit and the East Asia Summit, the White House said in a statement. After that, Biden will visit Indonesia Nov. 13-16 to participate in a summit of leaders from the Group of 20 major economies, it added.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog first disclosed Biden's visit to Egypt during a meeting with the U.S. president in the Oval Office on Wednesday. 

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would use COP27 to "build on the significant work the United States has undertaken to advance the global climate fight and help the most vulnerable build resilience to climate impacts."

In Cambodia, Biden will reaffirm the United States' enduring commitment to Southeast Asia, while underscoring the importance of U.S.-ASEAN cooperation in ensuring security and prosperity in the region, Jean-Pierre said.

In Bali, Indonesia, Biden will work with G20 partners to address key challenges such as climate change, the global impact of Putin's war on Ukraine, including on energy and food security and affordability, and a range of other priorities important to the global economic recovery, the White House said.

Vice President Kamala Harris would also travel to Asia and North Africa, following the president's visit, the White House said.

Harris will travel to Bangkok to attend the Nov. 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders meeting, underscoring Washington's commitment to economic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

She will also travel to Manila, where she will meet with government leaders and civil society representatives, the White House said. (Reuters)

Japan will set up a new joint command to manage the operations of its land, sea and air forces, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Saturday, as part of a major defence overhaul in the face of China's increasing assertiveness over Taiwan.

The government aims to have the joint command functioning by 2024. It will be tasked with coordinating strategies and boosting Japan's defence cooperation with the U.S. military, Nikkei reported.

The defence ministry could not be reached for comment outside regular business hours.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government is boosting its military spending in response to China's growing might and geopolitical uncertainty over Taiwan and North Korea's missile developments. read more

The new arrangements will be included in the defence overhaul that the government will unveil by the year-end, Nikkei said.

The joint command will be overseen by a joint commander, a newly created position that will report directly to Japan's defence minister, it added. (Reuters)