South Korea • mackaycartoons

Friday February 9, 2018

February 8, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday February 9, 2018

What is OAR and why are Russia not in PyeongChang 2018?

RUSSIA will be represented at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang but their flag will not fly and their athletes will have OAR – not RUS – after their names.

The Russian doping scandal first emerged from the McLaren Report, an independent report by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren that identified more than 1,000 Russian competitors who had befitted from a state-sponsored cover-up of athletes who were using performance enhancing drugs.

The first part of the report, commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was released in July 2016 but many sports still allowed Russians to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

However, the second part of the report which was published later in 2016 triggered a massive number of International Olympic Committee (IOC) investigations into Russian athletes and the Russian Olympic Committee was immediately suspended from PyeongChang 2018, with major suspicion also raised over doping at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

The IOC ruled that Russian athletes with a consistent history of drug testing and no history of doping would still be allowed to compete, albeit without the Russian flag or under the auspices of the Russian nation.

Instead those athletes will be represented by the “Olympic Athlete from Russia” logo on their uniforms and the Olympic anthem will be used if they are to win any medals.

Initially, 500 Russian athletes were presented to the IOC for consideration, 111 of whom were immediately dismissed.

However, 169 athletes were eventually invited to compete under the OAR banner – but that number could still rise.

A specific investigation into the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games and allegations of doping during the olympiad handed lifetime bans to 43 Russian athletes.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned 28 of those and partially upheld 11 more appeals.

But 13 of those 28 athletes have now applied to compete at PyeongChang 2018 – requests that have been turned down. (Source: Express.co.uk)

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Wednesday January 17, 2018

January 16, 2018 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 17, 2018

North Korea threatened with more sanctions, isolation at diplomacy summit

North Korea is facing a new warning to change its behaviour or face more sanctions.

The threat was delivered by Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chyrstia Freeland as she opened today’s summit on stability and security in the Korean Peninsula.

“Investing in nuclear weapons will lead only to more sanctions and to perpetual instability on the peninsula,” Freeland said to a room full of diplomats and reporters in Vancouver.

“The pursuit of nuclearization will bring you neither security nor prosperity,” she said.

The message was echoed by allies around the room, including U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is co-host of today’s meeting.

“The pressure campaign will continue until North Korea takes decisive steps to denuclearize,” Tillerson said.

“This is a strategy that has and will require patience, but thanks to everyone’s support at this table, and around the world, the regime is already facing costs that it is having difficulty bearing,” he added.

Freeland and Tillerson are among the foreign ministers and diplomats from 20 countries who have gathered on Canada’s West Coast to discuss paths to diplomacy.

Partners around the table welcomed the recent reopening of talks between North Korea and South Korea, and the North’s participation in the upcoming Winter Olympics.

After nearly two years of silence, officials from both countries sat down for 11 hours of discussions earlier this month. (source: CBC)

Monday, April 15, 2013

April 15, 2013 by Graeme MacKay

By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator, Monday, April 15, 2013

China must do more to resolve N. Korean Missile Crisis

Secretary of State John Kerry has called on China to do more to help resolve the North Korean missile crisis, saying the country provided the Pyongyang regime with a “lifeline.”

In an interview with NBC’s TODAY that aired on Monday, Kerry also said any deal with the rogue state would need to be structured so that Pyongyang could not later renege on its terms.

In recent days the North Koreans have readied missiles for launch and some speculated this would happen on Monday, when the nation celebrates the birth of founder Kim Il Sung, current leader Kim Jong Un’s grandfather.

In an interview in Tokyo before flying back to the U.S. on Monday, Kerry said that if the missiles were not fired “that would mean perhaps we’re turning a corner and there’s a possibility of moving in a better direction.”

“Everybody understands the negative side of what happens if there is a shoot. And my hope is that we can move in a different direction here. China, I think, is serious about this,” he said. “They understand the instability this is creating.”

Kerry said it was “very important” for the United States to make clear to North Korea that there would be “consequences for their action” and to reaffirm its security agreements with its allies in the region.

“That done, I think it is very important to the Chinese to focus on the fact that … if they’re not prepared to put the pressure on the North — and they have the greatest ability to have an impact on the North — then this can become more destabilizing,” he said. “And that instability is not in China’s interest, certainly. It’s not in anybody’s interest in the region.”(Source: NBC News)