Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/561386
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 26 AUGUST 2015 3 News PN paper confuses Koreas in front-page 'exclusive' on ministerial visit TIM DIACONO PN newspaper Il-Mu- ment is wiping egg off its print face after a bizarre geographical gaffe which wrongly reported that transport minister Joe Mizzi was packing his bags for a visit to North Korea. Mizzi confirmed with MaltaToday that he was actually travelling to South Korea to attend a transport conference in Seoul. A front-page 'exclusive' report on Sunday, enti- tled 'Labour and Mus- cat's government off to North Korea', claimed that Mizzi was going to represent the govern- ment on the occasion of the Asian country's 67th anniversary celebrations. They also claimed that Alex Sceberras Trigona, former foreign minister and current special envoy to the World Trade Organisa- tion, would be accompany- ing the minister to the Asian country as a representative of the Labour Party. "This visit was kept completely secret and will come as a shock to everyone, as North Korea is a country in which dictatorship and repression are the order of the day," the paper reported. "Other democratic countries don't have good relations with North Korea, because they know full well that democracy, liberty and human dignity are non-existent in that country." However, a spokesperson for Mizzi told MaltaToday that the minister would actually be attend- ing a conference in Seoul on the development of a transport network connecting Europe and Asia. The conference, entitled 'ASEM Symposium on Eurasia Transport and Logistic Network, Seamless Eurasia: Making Connections' will be held between 9 and 11 Septem- ber – clashing with the North Ko- rean festivities. "Mizzi will not be attending any celebrations whatsoever and he will not be accompanied by Sceberras Trigona," the spokesperson said. "Expens- es for the minister's visit will be borne by the South Korean ministry for Land, Transport and Infrastructure." "The only thing that will shock everyone is the PN newspaper's historical and geo- graphical ignorance." A Labour Party spokesperson also denied that Sceberras Trig- ona was set to travel as a party representative to either of the two Koreas next month. The Mument report recounted how former Labour Prime Minis- ter Dom Mintoff had established friendly diplomatic relations be- tween Malta and North Korea and how former Labour Prime Minis- ter Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici had controversially awarded the Gieh ir-Repubblika to former DPRK Su- preme Leader Kim il_Sung. More recently, Joseph Muscat had, as Opposition leader, ex- pressed his will to improve rela- tions between Malta and North Korea, expressed his sympathy for the death of North Korean Su- preme Leader Kim Jong-il, and de- fended the DPRK's right to launch a satellite. because they know full well that democracy, liberty and human development of a transport be held between 9 and 11 Septem- ber – clashing with the North Ko- rean festivities. "Mizzi will not be attending any celebrations whatsoever and he will not be accompanied by Sceberras Trigona," the spokesperson said. "Expens- es for the minister's visit will be borne by the South Korean ministry for Land, Transport and Infrastructure." "The only thing that will shock everyone is the PN newspaper's historical and geo- graphical ignorance." A Labour Party spokesperson also denied that Sceberras Trig- ona was set to travel as a party representative to either of the two Koreas next month. The Mument report recounted how former Labour Prime Minis- ter Dom Mintoff had established friendly diplomatic relations be- tween Malta and North Korea and how former Labour Prime Minis- ter Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici had controversially awarded the Gieh ir-Repubblika to former DPRK Su- preme Leader Kim il_Sung. More recently, Joseph Muscat had, as Opposition leader, ex- pressed his will to improve rela- 'Government has no road map for health system' – PN MARTINA BORG NATIONALIST MP Claudette Buttigieg yesterday criticised Health parliamentary secretary Chris Fearne for refusing to pub- lish parts of the Hospital Activi- ty Report for the period between January and June this year. Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Buttigieg noted that previous PN administrations published parts of the report, but Fearne was hiding behind the excuse of commercially sen- sitive information. Citing leaked details from the report on the increasing pres- sure in terms of patients, Butti- gieg said "the report confirms that the government has no road map." She insisted that the real rea- son behind the increase in pa- tients at the hospital, was not due to elective surgeries as the government had claimed. "The percentage of patients un- dergoing elective surgery stands at a mere 16%," Buttigieg said. She said that the Accident and Emergency department had seen a 7% increase of patients, but that some 23,024 patients who went to the hospital could have very easily made use of health centres. "Some 53% of appointments scheduled by Outpatients did not even show up for their second appointments," she pointed out, adding that this naturally raised questions about whether they had giv- en up on the public health system. General elections candi- date Mario Rizzo Naudi, also present at the press confer- ence, expressed his concerns about the proposed privati- sation of Gozo's health sys- tem. "The fact the government is resorting to privatisation of the health system proves that there never really was a roadmap," Rizzo Naudi added. The PN weekly erroneously reported that the transport minister would be flying to the rogue state of North Korea Shadow health minister Claudette Buttigieg said leaked information from unpublished report confirms that Mater Dei is in bad shape