S Korea, US scale back military drill
South Korea and the United States will conduct its springtime military exercise this week, but the joint drill will be smaller than usual because of the coronavirus pandemic, Seoul said on Sunday.
The allies will begin a nine day “computer-simulated command post exercise” on Monday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
South Korea and the United States decided to move forward with the drills after “comprehensively taking into consideration the Covid-19 situation, the maintenance of the combat readiness posture, the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of peace,” the JCS said, noting that the exercise is “defensive” in nature.
The drills will not include outdoor manoeuvres, which have been carried out throughout the year, and the number of troops and equipment will be minimised due to the pandemic, Yonhap news agency reported.
The exercises also provide a chance to assess South Korea’s readiness to take over wartime operational control (OPCON), and the series of scaled back drills could complicate President Moon Jae-in’s drive to complete the transfer before his term ends in 2022.
Even before the pandemic the drills had been reduced to facilitate US negotiations aimed at dismantling Pyongyang’s nuclear programmes.
The combined drills are closely monitored by North Korea which calls them a “rehearsal for war”. While Pyongyang has sometimes responded to such drills with its own shows of military force, it may be unlikely to do so this time, said Chad O’carroll,
CEO of Korea Risk Group, which monitors North Korea.
“I think there’s too much on the domestic agenda going wrong to risk any significant tit-for-tat escalation,” he said on Twitter. “And this is a government which tends to focus most of its resources on dealing with one key issue at a time.”
The Czech Republic is bracing for a rise in the number of patients with Covid-19 who require intensive care, as Health Minister Jan Blatny warned next week “will be the most critical.”
Blatny, speaking on broadcaster CT on Sunday, said that he expected up to 300 doctors and 1,000 nurses from outpatient services to have to work in hospitals in order to deal with the expected increase.
Nearly 7,900 people were being treated in hospital on
Sunday, 1,700 of whom were in serious condition or required a ventilator. As a way to stem the rising figures, lockdown measures were recently tightened in the country.
On a recent snowy day, Harue Sanpei returned briefly to her abandoned house in a hilly area of Fukushima prefecture, where residents are still barred from living because of extensive radioactive contamination from Japan’s worst nuclear disaster a decade ago.
Her family’s two-storey traditional wooden house has been left untouched since their evacuation, so it has huge, gaping holes in ceilings, with tatami mats caving in and mouldy chests.
Sanpei says she is heartbroken by the house, which is full of fond memories of her four-generation family of 10, being in such disorder. She also says local residents have a profound attachment to their land — the Tsushima district in Namie Town, about 30 km north-west of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
“Tsushima is full of natural riches. We used to enjoy a cherry blossom viewing party together, collect edible wild vegetables and mushrooms and catch fish in a local river’’, Sanpei recalls.
However, the close-knit community was ripped apart by the 2011 triple meltdown at the plant, run by Tokyo Electric Power. The nuclear emergency was triggered by a magnitude-9 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Then, winds sent a plume of radiation north-westward towards Tsushima.
“It is very sad that we lost our hometown because of the nuclear disaster’’, says Sachiko Mashio, who used to run a restaurant in Tsushima.
“Tsushima was a healing place surrounded by mountains. We used to enjoy seeing its breathtaking autumn foliage’’, Mashio says. The Tsushima district is now designated as a “difficult to return” zone, and its residents have no idea as to when they would be able to return home.
Meanwhile, the central government once again wants to emphasise Fukushima’s “recovery” on the 10th anniversary of the nuclear disaster on Thursday. It lifted evacuation orders in many of the affected areas, including central parts of Namie Town, near the nuclear plant, allowing residents to return to their homes.
However, a vast majority of them have not done so due to few job opportunities and concerns about radioactive contamination, though government officials stressed decontamination work was completed.
“Even though the government lifted the evacuation orders, locals still cannot grow rice and vegetables. They cannot eat fish they catch in a river’’, Sanpei says.
“I wonder whether Tokyo Electric employees and government officials could live there with their children and grandchildren even after the evacuation order was lifted’’, she says. “I urge the government to be far more careful when they lift an evacuation order.”
TEN YEARS ON, HIGH LEVELS OF RADIATION HAVE PREVENTED MANY FORMER RESIDENTS FROM RETURNING HOME
MUMBAI: Novak Djokovic will realise one of his long-cherished goals on Monday when he eclipses Roger Federer’s all-time record for most weeks as the men’s world number one, holding the top ranking for the 311th week.
The 33-year-old Serbian climbed to the top of the ATP rankings for the first time in July, 2011 and had the Swiss maestro’s record of 310 weeks spent as the highest-ranked man in the sport on his radar.
“This is one of my two biggest professional goals,” Djokovic said last year. “To reach the record of, (and) surpass Roger’s record for longest No 1 and win as many (Grand) Slams as possible.”
Djokovic is currently in his fifth stint as number one, having reclaimed the top spot from Spaniard Rafael Nadal in February last year.
The Serbian finished 2020 as the year-end number one for the sixth time, tying the record set by American great Pete Sampras, and won his 18th major title last month at the Australian Open.
His record-extending ninth triumph at Melbourne Park meant he was just two short of the men’s record of 20 Grand Slam titles, jointly held by Federer and Nadal.
Djokovic has made it clear that his only focus will now be on winning more Grand Slams and said he will make necessary adjustments to his playing schedule to achieve that goal.
MORE MAJORS
“Whether I think about winning more slams and breaking records? Of course, I do,” the Serbian said after his Australian Open triumph.
“And most of my attention and my energy from this day forward, until I retire from tennis, is going to be directed at majors, trying to win more major trophies.”
Federer, who will turn 40 in
August, has not played since losing to Djokovic in the semifinals of the 2020 Australian Open and will make his return in Doha this week after undergoing two knee surgeries last year.
The Swiss said he enjoyed competing against Djokovic and felt they brought the best out of each other. “Against the best players you know you have to bring your best game. Otherwise, it will not be enough,” Federer said during an Instagram Live session with Qatar Tennis on Saturday.
“Especially against somebody like Novak, who can go into a mode where he is not going to miss. He can defend very well and be aggressive, he has a very good balance. That’s why he is one of the greatest players ever.
“It has been a pleasure to play against him and he’s one of the players who have made me a better player. It’s great to have him in the game.”
While Djokovic has a firm grip on top spot, there will be a new number two on March 15 in Russian Daniil Medvedev, who will climb one place to his career-best ranking to replace Nadal, who has not played since the Australian Open due to a back injury.
And most of my attention and my energy from this day forward, until I retire from tennis, is going to be directed at majors, trying to win more major trophies
NOVAK DJOKOVIC Serbian World No. 1