DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “S. Koreans leave joint resort in DPRK over tourism row” plus 9 more

SEOUL, Aug. 23 -- South Korean workers were expelled Tuesday from a mountain resort jointly managed with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as the deadlock over the stalled cross-border tour program deepens.

Fourteen South Koreans and two Korean-Chinese workers at the Mount Kumgang resort returned home earlier in the day, one day after the DPRK ordered them to leave within 72 hours.

The DPRK also announced it will begin the threatened disposal of South Korean properties at the resort, which it had seized in a unilateral move last year.

The measures are seen here as Pyongyang's response to Seoul's reluctance to resume the suspended joint tours to the scenic mountain just north of the border, once a rare source of hard cash for the cash-strapped country.

South Korea has expressed regret over the arbitrary disposal, to little avail. Hyundai Asan, a South Korean tour operator whose exclusive contract with the DPRK was unilaterally terminated earlier this year, also called on Pyongyang to withdraw the measures.

The tours to the mountain, launched in 1998 amid a growing rapprochement on the divided Korean peninsula, were suspended in 2008 after a shooting death of a South Korean tourist who ventured into a restricted military zone.

Seoul has long refused to reopen the tours without a proper investigation into the shooting death and safety guarantees, with the unification ministry here recently saying the 2008 shooting death lies "at the core of the current dispute" over the tours.

The assets subject to the planned disposal, including restaurants and a golf course, are believed to be worth 325.5 million U.S. dollars. Pyongyang seeks to develop the mountain area into a special zone for international tours.​ (Xinhua)

KABUL, Aug. 23 -- Security forces have killed 12 insurgents and captured 11 others throughout the country in operations over the past 24 hours, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

"Afghan National Police (ANP) with the assistance of the Afghan National Army and NATO-led coalition forces launched three joint and independent operations over the past 24 hours in surrounding areas of the Kabul, Logar and Herat provinces,"the Inteiror Ministry said in a press release issued here.

"As a result, 12 armed insurgents were killed, one was wounded and 11 other armed insurgents were arrested,"

Numerous light and heavy weapons and ammunition were also seized during the operations, the release added.

Afghan officials use the word insurgents to refer to Taliban militants.

However, Taliban outfit as the major anti-government group fighting Afghan and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan has yet to make any comments. (Xinhua)

TRIPOLI, Aug. 23 -- Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the well-known son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, held a news conference Tuesday at his father's Tripoli bastion of Bab al-Aziziyah, denying being arrested by the rebels.

Saif claimed that the capital is still in government's control and blamed the West for using hi-tech methods to disseminate rumors among his countrymen in a bid to create chaos and an atmosphere of fear.

He arrived in the bastion in a four-wheel-drive, to the cheers of dozens of awaiting supporters waving Libyan national flags and portraits of Saif and his father, whose whereabouts is still a myth. Saif said his father is still in Tripoli and safe, though the claim is hard to verify.

Earlier in the day, Saif made a brief visit to the Rixos hotel where dozens of foreign reporters are staying, arriving in a convoy of armored Land Cruisers, more than a day after rebels claimed they had captured him.

According to a Xinhua reporter, both the hotel and the Bab al-Aziziyah compound just across the street apparently are still under the control of Gaddafi's troops, so it is no suprise that Saif could travel between the two locations as he wishes.

Meanwhile, Libya's ambassador to the United States Ali Suleiman Aujali told CNN another son of Gaddafi, Mohammed Gaddafi, who had been captured by the rebels, has escaped.

Iraqi press quoted Gaddafi's spokesperson as saying that Mohammed was resuced by Libyan government troops and he is now in a very safe place.

There has been no immediate explanation from the Benghazi-based rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) which had announced the capture of both Saif and Mohammed.​ (Xinhua)

ANKARA, Aug. 23 -- The number of Syrians who fled violence and took shelter in Turkey dropped to 6,833 on Tuesday, an official statement said.

According to the statement released by the Turkish Prime Ministry Disaster and Emergency Management Directorate, 35 Syrians crossed into Turkey on Sunday and Monday.

A total of 16,624 Syrian citizens have crossed into Turkey so far and 9,791 of them have returned to their country, said the statement.

Turkey has spent 12.75 million Turkish liras (about 7.17 million U.S. dollars) to provide shelter, food and medical assistance to the Syrian nationals.

The Syrians are staying in six temporary tent-sites set up by the Turkish Red Crescent in the towns of Altinozu, Yayladagi and Reyhanli and the village of Apaydin in Turkey's southern province of Hatay. (Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 23 -- Cambodian and Thai tour and travel operators are scheduled to meet over the weekend to discuss ways to boost the two neighboring countries' tourism after being affected by continuous border dispute since 2008, the Chairman of Cambodia Association of Travel Agents (CATA) Ang Kim Eang said Tuesday.

The one-day meeting will be held on Aug. 27 in coastal Preah Sihanouk province, some 230 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh, he said, adding that it will bring together 28 Cambodian tour and travel agents and 66 Thai travel agents.

"As military tension over the border conflict has eased and normalcy has returned to border, the two countries' travel associations want to create close connection to boost respective tourism," he said, "Both sides will promote each country's tourism destinations and seek partners for cooperation."

Thai tourists to Cambodia have constantly declined since the two neighbors have been involved in border dispute since July 2008 when Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple was enlisted by UNESCO as a World Heritage site, but Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 square kilometers (1.8 square miles) of scrub next to the temple.

Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border and periodic clashes have happened, resulting in the deaths of troops and civilians on both sides.

However, the border tension between the two countries has eased since the Pheu Thai Party won a landslide victory in the July 3 general election.

The latest statistics showed that Thai tourists to Cambodia had declined by up to 36 percent to 48,136 in the first six months of this year, compared with the same period last year of 75,695.​ (Xinhua)

PHNOM PENH, Aug. 23 -- Cambodian Ministry of Defense on Tuesday said Cambodia has already prepared itself to cooperate with Thailand on troop withdrawals from the newly defined demilitarized zone surrounding the 11th century Preah Vihear temple.

"Royal Cambodian Armed Forces will cooperate closely with Royal Thai Army to end the two countries'historic track of nightmare period and is looking forward to building a new era of peace, cooperation, fraternity, and friendship between the two neighbors for the interests of both sides'peoples," said a statement from the Defense Ministry on Tuesday.

The statement was issued after Thai Defense Minister Gen. Yutthasak Sasiprapa said that the Indonesian observers' roles in the provisional demilitarized zone (PDZ) were mentioned in the International Court of Justice's ruling and they are necessary to monitor a ceasefire.

"The observers are crucial because someone has to be there to witness the developments of the demilitarization and those observers will be good witnesses," the Bangkok Post online newspaper quoted Gen. Yutthasak as saying on Monday.

"The spokesman for Cambodian Ministry of Defense welcomes and highly appreciates Gen. Yutthasak Sasiprapa's remarks," said the statement.

The ICJ on July 18 ordered Cambodia and Thailand to immediately withdraw their military personnel currently present in the PDZ around the area of Preah Vihear temple and also ordered both parties to continue cooperating within ASEAN and allow appointed observers access to the PDZ.

The PDZ covers the area of about 17 kilometers.

Cambodia and Thailand have had sporadic border conflict over territorial dispute near the Preah Vihear temple since the UNESCO listed Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008.

Since then, both sides have built up military forces along the border and periodic clashes have happened, resulting in the deaths of troops and civilians on both sides.

However, the border tension between the two countries has been eased since the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Pheu Thai Party won a landslide victory in the July 3's general elections. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, Aug. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- One of Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam, has appeared to foreign journalists in Tripoli, amid a group of supporters vowing to fight on. He was earlier reported by rebels to be in their custody.

Earlier on Monday, the opposition leader claimed that they had detained Saif and Gaddafi's eldest son Mohammed. But Saif told media that Tripoli was under government control. He said he did not care about an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court seeking him and his father for crimes against humanity. Talking about his father, Saif said the embattled Libyan leader was safe and well in Tripoli.

He said, "Firstly I want to deny all the rumors. NATO and the West have modern technology and they blocked and jammed communications. They sent messages to the Libyan people through the Libyan network I think. They stopped the broadcast of the state TV, they've created a media and electronic war to spread chaos and fear in Libya.

They have also smuggled saboteur gangs through the sea and civilian cars into the city to create a mess. You have seen how the Libyan people rose up together, men and women, to break the spine of the rebels, rats and gangs yesterday and today. Now we will tour the hotspots of the city of Tripoli so you can see that the situation is good and everything is well. We want to reassure the world that the situation in Libya is excellent, thank God. We will go now for a tour in Tripoli in the areas where they claim there is fighting and battles."