Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 13, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Read the Winter 2024 issue at winnipegfreepress.com/fp-features Available at Manitoba Liquor Marts - while supplies last! P I C K U P Y O U R C O P Y T O D A Y ! MANITOBA W I N T E R 20 2 4 TOP MANITOBA SKI SPOTS MANITOBA’S PREMIER FOOD, DRINK AND LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE INSIDE SAVOUR HOLIDAY 2024 ISSUE DON'T MISS THE MONDAY, JANUARY 13, 2025WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● A5 NEWS I WORLD Seoul confirms two North Korean prisoners captured S EOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s intelligence service NIS confirmed on Sunday Ukrainian reports about two North Korean prison- ers of war. South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that one of the captured sol- diers stated during his interrogation that he had not known he was being sent to a war zone. He had assumed that his deployment was merely a training mission, Yonhap reported. The soldier also stated that the North Korean forces fighting on the Russian side had suffered “significant losses.” The NIS has been closely co-operat- ing with the Ukrainian secret service since North Korea began sending sol- diers to Russia. North Korea is believed to have sent around 12,000 soldiers to Russia to sup- port its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022. Ukraine says the North Korean fighters have suffered heavy losses so far. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expected more North Korean fighters to be taken prisoner as the fighting in the Kursk region con- tinues. “There should be no doubt left in the world that the Russian army is depend- ent on military assistance from North Korea,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X, attaching a short video of what appears to be the two wounded prisoners. Moscow is currently using North Koreans to reinforce its units in the counter-attack in Russia’s southern Kursk region, parts of which Ukrainian troops seized in a surprise offensive last August. According to estimates by both Ukraine and the United States, the North Korean troops are suffering heavy losses there. Kiev is prepared to hand over the prisoners to North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un if he organizes the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russia, Zelenskyy said, but there are also other options for North Korean soldiers if they do not want to return. The men had survived despite their injuries and had been taken to Kiev, where the Ukrainian secret service was interrogating them, it was reported. Zelenskyy stated that the press would also be given access to the prisoners. “The world must know the truth about what is happening,” he said. Under international humanitarian law, prisoners of war may not be put on public display. According to the Red Cross, reports on prisoners of war are not prohibited, but the captives should not be identified. It was not Zelenskyy’s first report about captured North Korean soldiers. However, previous prisoners of war had died from their injuries, according to Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian armed forces mean- while said they destroyed a Russian command post in the occupied territor- ies in the east of the country. An airstrike was carried out after appropriate reconnaissance against the staff of the Russian Guard unit south- east of Pokrowsk on the edge of the Donbass, the Ukrainian general staff said on Facebook on Sunday. Both warring parties repeatedly take targeted action against enemy command centres if the necessary co- ordinates are available — for example, through radio reconnaissance or through reconnaissance patrols in the enemy rear. Meanwhile in the southern Ukrain- ian port city of Kherson, the supply of electricity and district heating has completely failed following a Rus- sian artillery attack. Almost 23,000 households are without electricity, the regional military administrator Roman Mrochko announced on Telegram. Repair crews have already been de- ployed to repair the damage as quickly as possible. The Russian military repeatedly at- tacks Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The repeated power and heating out- ages in the middle of winter are in- tended to put pressure on the Ukrain- ian population. — dpa JANOS KUMMER / GETTY IMAGES / TNS Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he expects more North Korean fighters to be taken prisoner as the fighting in the Kursk region continues. Biden speaks with relatives of Americans held by Taliban WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden spoke Sunday with relatives of three Americans the U.S. government is look- ing to bring home from Afghanistan, but no agreement has been reached on a deal to get them back, family mem- bers said. Biden’s call with family members of Ryan Corbett, George Glezmann and Mahmood Habibi took place in the waning days of his administration as officials try to negotiate a deal that could bring them home in exchange for Muhammad Rahim, one of the remain- ing detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Corbett, who had lived in Afghan- istan with his family at the time of the 2021 collapse of the U.S.-backed gov- ernment, was abducted by the Taliban in August 2022 while on a business trip and Glezmann, an airline mechanic from Atlanta, was taken by the Tali- ban’s intelligence services in Decem- ber 2022 while traveling through the country. Officials believe the Taliban is still holding both men as well as Habibi, an Afghan American businessman who worked as a contractor for a Kabul- based telecommunications company and also went missing in 2022. The FBI has said that Habibi and his driver were taken along with 29 other employees of the company, but that all except for Habibi and another person have since been freed. The Taliban has denied that it has Habibi, complicating talks with the U.S. government and the prospect of finaliz- ing a deal. On the call Sunday, Biden told the families that his administration would not trade Rahim, who has been held at Guantanamo since 2008, unless the Taliban releases Habibi, according to a statement from Habibi’s brother, Ah- mad Habibi. “President Biden was very clear in telling us that he would not trade Rahim if the Taliban do not let my brother go,” the statement said. “He said he would not leave him behind. My family is very grateful that he is standing up for my brother.” Dennis Fitzpatrick, a lawyer acting on behalf of Glezmann’s family, ex- pressed dismay at the lack of progress, saying in a statement, “President Biden and his national security adviser are choosing to leave George Glezmann in Afghanistan. A deal is available to bring him home. The White House’s in- action in this case is inhumane.” Ryan Fayhee, a lawyer acting on behalf of Corbett’s relatives, said the family was grateful to Biden for the call but also implored him to act on the deal. “A deal is now on the table and the de- cision to accept it — as imperfect as it may be — resides exclusively with the president,” Fayhee said in a statement. “Hard decisions make great presidents, and we hope and believe that President Biden will not let perfection be the ene- my of the good when American lives are at stake.” The White House confirmed the call with the families in a statement in which it said they “discussed the U.S. government’s continuing efforts to re- unite these three Americans with their families. The president emphasized his administration’s commitment to the cause of bringing home Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained overseas.” A spokesperson did not dir- ectly address the complaint from the families. If a deal is not done before Jan. 20, it would fall to the incoming Trump administration to pick up negotiations, though it’s unclear if officials would take a different approach when it comes to releasing a Guantanamo detainee the U.S. government has deemed a danger. Just 15 men remain at Guantanamo, down from a peak of nearly 800 under former president George W. Bush. Rahim is one of just three remaining detainees never charged but also never deemed safe for the U.S. to even consid- er transferring to other countries, as it has done with hundreds of other Mus- lim detainees brought to Guantanamo but never charged. The U.S. has described Rahim as a direct adviser, courier and operative for Osama bin Laden and other sen- ior al-Qaida figures and a continuing threat to U.S. national security, de- spite never charging him or otherwise formally making public any evidence against Rahim in his 17 years at Guan- tanamo. Successive U.S. administrations have kept Rahim under wraps to a degree remarkable even for the military-run detention at Guantanamo. A case-review panel in periodic sec- urity assessments has judged him a lasting danger. — The Associated Press ERIC TUCKER ;