Spy chiefs in S. Korea for security talks

Kampala- The Chief of Military Intelligence, Brig Charles Bakahumura, is in South Korea to meet his counterpart and other security officials to share intelligence on regional security.

The visit followed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on defence cooperation between Uganda and South Korea when President Park Geun-hye visited Kampala recently.

When contacted yesterday, Brig Bakahumura confirmed he was in South Korea but refused to divulge details of the meeting. “I can’t tell you what we discussed,” he said.

The spy chief was accompanied by his recently promoted deputy for International Relations, Brig Richard Karemire. They two also held a meeting with South Korea’s Vice Defence minister Hwanga Inmoo.

During the South Korean president’s visit, Uganda said it would cut its defence and security ties with North Korea in compliance with a broad array of the United Nations sanctions imposed on Pyongyang in March for its nuclear test and missile launch.

North Korea had been offering military and police training to Uganda and the new MoU with its archrival South Korea seeks to offer the same services.

In March, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on North Korea after its nuclear test and launching missiles.

Sanctions
The sanctions demand all the UN member nations to stop engaging in activities, including trade or transfer of technology that could enable the nation’s missile and nuclear programmes.

A report by the Royal United Service Institute for Defence and Security Studies, a global security think-tank released last month, listed Uganda among the top five countries that seem not ready to cut military ties with North Korea despite the UN restrictions.

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