Abbas congratulates North Korea’s Kim amid nuclear tensions

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has congratulated North Korean Leader Kim Jong-Un on the occasion of his country’s “Liberation day,” amid a high-stakes nuclear standoff between Pyongyang and Washington.

“The Korean people offered the most precious sacrifices for their freedom and dignity,” says Abbas, in a telegram to Kim, according to the PA’s official news outlet Wafa.

Abbas expresses his appreciation for North Korea’s “firm solidarity in support of the rights [the Palestinian] people and its just struggle to end the occupation and establish our independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

Abbas also expresses wishes for Kim’s “health and happiness,” for North Korean “prosperity” and for the “historic relationship between Palestine and North Korea to further develop.”

In a separate statement, Abbas also congratulates the leader of South Korea Moon Jae-in for his nation’s own Liberation Day.

He wishes prosperity for the South Koreans and a development of ties with the Palestinians.

Earlier Tuesday, Kim signaled he would not launch missiles near Guam, amid sky high friction between the US and North Korea and a war of words between the countries’ leaders.

During an inspection of the North Korean army’s Strategic Forces, which handles the missile program, Kim praised the military for drawing up a “close and careful plan” and said he would watch the “foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees” a little more before deciding whether to order the missile test, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency says.

Kim said North Korea would conduct the launches if the “Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity,” and that the United States should “think reasonably and judge properly” to avoid shaming itself, the news agency says.

— Dov Lieber with AP