A8| Monday, October 7, 2019 ***** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.
WORLD NEWS
Police detain protesters in Hong Kong on Sunday as clashes erupted anew despite the government’s imposition of emergency powers.JUSTIN CHIN/BLOOMBERG NEWScessions from Washington or if
the discussions actually are on
the verge of breaking down.
“Whether the abrupt end of
discussions is the beginning of
the end of the relative calm
since the Trump-Kim summit
in Singapore or just another
bump in the road followed by
more negotiations is entirely
unclear,” said Joel Wit, a for-mer State Department official
who is now a senior fellow at
the Stimson Center think tank.
The 8½-hour session on
Saturday was the first work-
ing-level meeting since the
February summit meeting in
Hanoi between Mr. Trump and
North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un. It was held by Stephen
Biegun, the U.S. special repre-President Trump’s hope of
striking a landmark agreement
to denuclearize North Korea
suffered a setback this week-
end when Pyongyang said it
wouldn’t continue negotia-
tions unless the U.S. makes a
significant concession.
The State Department said
it had presented creative ideas
during a working-level meeting
on Saturday on how to narrow
the wide differences between
the two sides and said U.S. of-
ficials stood ready to continue
negotiations in two weeks.
But North Korea on Sunday
warned that the diplomacy
“may immediately come to an
end” unless the U.S. takes a
substantial step toward Pyong-
yang’s position before the end
of the year.
Neither side has publicly
spelled out details of propos-
als presented during the week-
end meeting.
Experts said it was difficult
to tell whether the North Kore-
ans are engaging in brinkman-
ship to try to wring fresh con-
ByMichael R.
Gordonin Washington
andTimothy W.
Martinin Seoulfire after being hit by a Molo-
tov cocktail.
Despite Mrs. Lam’s plea, lit-
tle changed on Sunday as an
18th weekend of unrest saw
mass rallies that started out
peacefully, before some pro-
testers rampaged through sev-
eral districts and police filled
the streets with tear gas to
disperse crowds.
Earlier Sunday, Hong Kong’s
High Court rejected a bid for
an injunction to block the ban
on face masks.assemblies face as much as
one year in prison.
The chief executive said on
Friday that even though she
was using emergency laws,
Hong Kong wasn’t in a state of
emergency. By Saturday, Mrs.
Lam was condemning the “ex-
treme behavior of the rioters”
who turned out to protest the
measure late that day. During
the mayhem, a 14-year-old boy
was shot in the leg on Friday
by a police officer out of uni-
form who was briefly set onwho have advocated a tougher
line on Hong Kong. By law, such
intervention would require a re-
quest from the Hong Kong gov-
ernment or a formal meeting
by the central government to
declare an emergency situation,
Mr. Gao said.
Hong Kong’s government
said the ban on masks was
needed to deter vandalism and
other unlawful acts that pose
a serious public danger. Those
arrested for wearing masks at
public gatherings and unlawfulparamilitary force used across
the mainland border for do-
mestic security.
After the worst violence in
more than 50 years erupted on
Oct. 1—the 70th anniversary of
the founding of Communist
China—Victor Gao, an inter-
preter for former Chinese
leader Deng Xiaoping, said
Beijing’s intervention looked
increasingly likely.
“It is violence, it is rioting, it
is treason,” said Mr. Gao, who is
among Chinese commentatorsHONG KONG—The govern-
ment’s first use of emergency
powers in half a century failed
to stop violence and vandalism
flaring across the city, leaving
officials with the choice of in-
troducing more extreme mea-
sures to win back the streets
or risking intervention from
Beijing.
For the first time in the
four months of unrest, uni-
formed soldiers from the Hong
Kong garrison of the People’s
Liberation Army raised a yel-
low warning flag at nearby
protesters, saying: “You are in
breach of the law. You may be
prosecuted.”
Tens of thousands poured
into the streets on Sunday,
many wearing masks in defiance
of a ban on them introduced on
Saturday under the emergency
law. Some protesters set fires
and smashed Chinese banks and
subway stations, while police,
ByDan Strumpf,
Joyu Wang
andWenxin Fanoutnumbered at many locations,
fired volleys of tear gas and
projectiles. A taxi driver was
beaten bloody by a mob in an-
other district after he rammed
into a group of protesters.
Chief Executive Carrie Lam
invoked the colonial-era law
on Friday to ban masks at pub-
lic gatherings, saying it was
necessary to deter protesters
who posed a serious danger to
Hong Kong. The full emer-
gency law, however, gives her
government sweeping powers
that include allowing authori-
ties to impose curfews, extend
detentions, censor the internet
and take control of all trans-
port—moves her government
has been reluctant to impose.
“I would expect to see such
power to be invoked soon, if
the masks ban does not stop
the protests,” Steve Tsang, di-
rector of the School of Orien-
tal and African Studies China
Institute at the University of
London. “There is now a suffi-
ciently strongly motivated
group among the protesters to
fight whatever the govern-
ment does to end the protests,
so I see an escalation.”
If the wider application of
those powers fails, Mr. Tsang
said, the next step would be
the deployment of China’s
People’s Armed Police—aHong Kong
Protesters Defy
New Mask Ban
Government's first use
of emergency powers
in decades fails to quell
violence and vandalism
sentative on North Korea, and
the chief North Korean negoti-
ator, Kim Myong Gil.
Even before Saturday, the
two sides were far apart on the
pace and scope of efforts to
strip North Korea of its nuclear
arsenal and long-range mis-
siles, despite two summit meet-
ings over the past two years.
One issue that divided the
two sides at the Hanoi summit
concerned initial steps Pyong-
yang should take to constrain
its nuclear program and what
it should receive in return.
At the Hanoi summit, the
North signaled its willingness
to shut its Yongbyon nuclear
complex, the centerpiece of its
nuclear program since the
1960s, in return for major sanc-
tions relief. But U.S. officials
said then that initial steps by
the North should also include
an across-the-board freeze of
other nuclear-related activities.
The U.S. also has insisted
publicly that any agreement
shouldn’t merely freeze the
North’s nuclear efforts but
should include a commitment
by Pyongyang to eliminate its
nuclear weapons and programs.
Major sanctions relief shouldn’t
begin, the U.S. has said, until
the dismantlement of those nu-clear programs is under way.
No discernible progress oc-
curred following Hanoi until
Messrs. Trump and Kim met
on June 30 in the demilita-
rized zone separating North
and South Korea and the two
sides agreed to resume work-
ing-level talks.
Even so, breaking the nego-
tiating logjam wasn’t expected
to be easy. Mr. Trump raised
expectations by declaring in
September he was considering
a new method for pursuing de-
nuclearization.
The departure of John Bol-
ton, a noted hawk on North Ko-
rea, as Mr. Trump’s national-se-
curity adviser also spurred
speculation of a change in ad-
ministration posture.
But Saturday’s talks ended
in acrimony when North Korea
accused the U.S. of lacking po-
litical will to reach an agree-
ment and said Washington was
misleading the public by call-
ing the talks productive and
by suggesting the two sides
could meet again this month.
Pyongyang reiterated a
warning to Washington to adopt
a new negotiating stance by
year’s end, state media reported
on Sunday, a demand first is-
sued by Mr. Kim in April.Pyongyang Demands Throw Cold Water on U.S. Talks
North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Myong Gil, center,
outside the North Korean Embassy in Stockholm on SaturdayPHILIP O’CONNOR/REUTERSJapanese and North
Korean Boats CrashTOKYO—A Japanese Fish-
eries Agency patrol boat col-
lided with a North Korean
fishing boat in the Sea of
Japan on Monday morning
and about 20 North Korean
fishermen were thrown into
the sea, according to the
Japan Coast Guard.
Officials said the accident
happened shortly after 9 a.m.
local time about 215 miles
northwest of Japan’s Noto
peninsula. It happened within
Japan’s exclusive economic
zone. Japan has been step-
ping up patrols to stop illegal
fishing in the zone.
The Japan Coast Guard
sent patrol ships and aircraft
to the site, and officials said
rescue activities were under
way. The status of the fisher-
men wasn’t known.
A Japanese Fisheries
Agency official said the Fish-
eries Agency patrol boat had
sent a warning to the North
Korean ship.
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