Page 11 - North Korea

N Korea launches ballistic missile toward sea, after US-S Korea-Japan drill

North Korea launched at least one short-range ballistic missile off its east coast Monday, South Korea's military said, a day after the North vowed offensive and overwhelming responses to a new US military drill with South Korea and Japan. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from North Korea's southeastern town of Jangyon at 5.05 am. It said an additional, unidentified ballistic missile launch trajectory was detected 10 minutes later, a suggestion that North Korea might have performed two missile launches. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korea's military has boosted its surveillance posture and is closely exchanging related information with the United States and Japan. The launch came two days after South Korea, the US and Japan ended their new multidomain trilateral drills in the region. In recent years, the three countries have been expanding their trilateral security partnership to better cope with North Korea's evolving nuclear threats and China's ...

US to confront Russia at UN Security Council over North Korean weapons

The meeting of the 15-member council comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Pyongyang last week to sign a pact with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un

North Korea says it tested multiwarhead missile, Seoul tags it as failiure

North Korea said Thursday it had successfully tested a multiwarhead missile in the first known launch of a developmental weapon coveted by leader Kim Jong Un to overwhelm US and South Korean missile defences. South Korea quickly dismissed the claim as deception to cover up a failed launch. North Korea's state media said the launch Wednesday tested the separation and guidance control of individual mobile warheads to ensure the capability of the Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicles. It said the separated warheads were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets" and a decoy that separated from the missile was verified by radar. If confirmed, it would be North Korea's first public launch event related to the development of a multiwarhead missile, though at a preliminary stage. South Korea's military said later Thursday that a joint analysis by South Korean and US authorities assessed that the North Korean missile launch failed. Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Lee Sung Joon

N Korea tests multiwarhead missile, Kim covets weapon to overwhelm US

North Korea said Thursday it had successfully tested a multiwarhead missile, a sophisticated weapon coveted by leader Kim Jong Un to overwhelm missile defenses in the continental United States. The statement contradicted South Korea's assessment of a failed launch Wednesday of a different type of weapon. The launch tested the separation and guidance control of individual mobile warheads to ensure the capability of the Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. The separated mobile warheads were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets" and a decoy that separated from the missile was verified by radar, it said. It was North Korea's first known launch event related to the development of a multiwarhead missile, though outside experts believe it was a preliminary test. KCNA, citing the country's Missile Administration, said it was significant to bolstering North Korea's missile forces and developing missile technologies that testi

Suspected North Korean hypersonic missile exploded, says South Korea

A North Korean ballistic missile test on Wednesday likely ended in failure, South Korea's military said, days after the U.S. deployed an aircraft carrier for a new trilateral military drill with South Korea and Japan. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that North Korea launched a ballistic missile from its capital region around 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It said the missile was launched toward the North's eastern waters, but the launch was suspected to have ended in failure. It gave no further details like whether it assessed the North Korean missile likely crashed on the ground or exploded in mid-air. Japan's Defense Ministry said earlier Wednesday that it also detected a suspected ballistic missile by North Korea. The North's reported launch also came hours after South Korea said North Korea floated huge balloons likely carrying trash across the border for a second consecutive day. South Korea's earlier threatened to retaliate with anti-Pyongyang front-line ...

S Korea's Incheon airport briefly shuts down runways due to trash balloons

One balloon landed on the tarmac near passenger Terminal 2 and the three runways at Incheon were temporarily shut down

N Korea fires suspected ballistic missile, says Japan; suggests precaution

However, the PMO issued instructions to dedicate efforts to gather and analyse information and provide speedy and adequate information to people

N Korea launches more trash balloons; South calls it 'irrational'

South Korea threatened on Tuesday to restart anti-Pyongyang frontline propaganda broadcasts in the latest bout of Cold War-style campaigns between the rivals after North Korea resumed its trash-carrying balloon launches. On Monday night, North Korea floated huge balloons carrying plastic bags of rubbish across the border in its fifth such campaign since late May an apparent response to South Korean activists flying political leaflets via balloons. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called North Korea's balloon activities a despicable and irrational provocation. In a speech marking the 74th anniversary of the start of the 1950-53 Korean War, Yoon said Tuesday that South Korea will maintain a firm military readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocations by North Korea. South Korea's military said North Korea floated about 350 balloons in its latest campaign, and about 100 of them eventually landed in South Korean soil, mostly in Seoul and nearby areas. Seoul is about 40-50

North Korea has resumed balloon launches likely to drop trash: Seoul

The launches came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a major defence deal that observers worry could embolden Kim to direct more provocations

With new pact with North Korea, Russia raises stakes with West over Ukraine

Behind the smiles, the balloons and the red-carpet pageantry of President Vladimir Putin's visit to North Korea last week, a strong signal came through: In the spiralling confrontation with the US and its allies over Ukraine, the Russian leader is willing to challenge Western interests like never before. The pact that he signed with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un envisions mutual military assistance between Moscow and Pyongyang if either is attacked. Putin also announced for the first time that Russia could provide weapons to the isolated country, a move that could destabilise the Korean Peninsula and reverberate far beyond. He described the potential arms shipments as a response to NATO allies providing Ukraine with longer-range weapons to attack Russia. He bluntly declared that Moscow has nothing to lose and is prepared to go to the end to achieve its goals in Ukraine. Putin's moves added to concerns in Washington and Seoul about what they see as an alliance in which North Korea

Russia-North Korea pact may dent China's influence, but its sway undeterred

Experts say China's leaders are likely fretting over potential loss of influence over North Korea after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the deal this week

Russian ambassador summoned in South Korea as tensions rise with North

South Korea summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the country's new defense pact with North Korea on Friday, as border tensions continued to rise with vague threats and brief, seemingly accidental incursions by North Korean troops. Earlier Friday, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a vague threat of retaliation after South Korean activists flew balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border, and South Korea's military said it had fired warning shots the previous day to repel North Korean soldiers who briefly crossed the rivals' land border for the third time this month. That came two days after Moscow and Pyongyang reached a pact vowing mutual defense assistance if either is attacked, and a day after Seoul responded by saying it would consider providing arms to Ukraine to fight Russia's invasion. South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong Kyun summoned Russian Ambassador Georgy Zinoviev to convey Seoul's stance on the deal ...

From Pyongyang to Putin: Nuclear diplomacy shifts amid Ukraine standoff

Russian President Vladimir Putin has escalated tensions by threatening to arm North Korea in response to US and allied support for Ukraine

S Korea fires warning shots as North Korean soldiers make third incursion

South Korea's military said Friday that it had fired warnings shots the previous day to repel North Korean soldiers who temporarily crossed the rivals' land border for the third time this month. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said several North Korean soldiers while engaging in unspecified construction work on the northern side of the border briefly intruded the military demarcation line that bisects the countries at around 11 am Thursday. The South Korean military in response broadcasted a warning and fired warning shots, to which the North Korean soldiers retreated. The joint chiefs didn't immediately release more details. South Korea's military has said it believes the previous two border intrusions this month weren't intentional as the North Korean soldiers have retreated after the warning shots and the North has not returned fire. The South's military says it has been observing increased North Korean construction activity in frontline border areas since April, such as ...

S Korean group flies anti-N Korean propaganda leaflets across the border

A South Korea activists' group said Friday it again flew large balloons carrying anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets toward North Korea, adding to a campaign that aggravated animosities between the rivals and prompted a resumption of Cold War-style psychological warfare along their border. The South Korean civilian group, led by North Korean defector Park Sang-hak, said it floated 20 balloons attached with 3,00,000 propaganda leaflets, 5,000 USB sticks with South Korean pop songs and TV dramas, and 3,000 US dollar bills from the South Korean border town of Paju on Thursday night. Pyongyang resents such material and fears it could demoralise front-line troops and residents and eventually weaken leader Kim Jong Un's grip on power, analysts say. After previous leafletting by Park's group and other South Korean activists, North Korean launched more than 1,000 balloons that dropped tons of trash in South Korea, smashing roof tiles and windows and causing other property damage. In ...

Deal between Putin, Kim requires immediate military assistance: North Korea

The deal could mark the strongest connection between Moscow and Pyongyang since the end of the Cold War

Putin gives North Korea's Kim a luxury Russian-built limousine, says TASS

Photos released by Russian media showed Putin and Kim taking turns to take the wheel in the new Aurus around the guest house following the summit talks

Putin, Kim ink mutual defence pact; North Korea vows unconditional support

On his first visit to Pyongyang since July 2000, Putin explicitly linked Russia's deepening of ties with North Korea to the West's growing support for Ukraine

Russia and North Korea have vowed to aid each other if attacked: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a new partnership deal that includes a vow of mutual aid if either country is attacked, as both face escalating standoffs with the west. It was not clear what kind of assistance the deal, described as a comprehensive strategic partnership, would call for. Putin's first visit to North Korea in 24 years comes amid growing concerns over an arms arrangement in which the country provides Moscow with badly needed munitions for its war in Ukraine in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim's nuclear weapons and missile program. Putin added that Russia would not rule out developing military-technical cooperation with North Korea the deal, according Russian state news agencies. Kim said that the agreement was of a peaceful and defensive nature, according to Ria Novosti. I have no doubt it will become a driving force accelerating the creation of a new ...

Russia, N Korea sign partnership, vows closer ties amid rivalry with West

North Korea is under heavy UN Security Council sanctions over its weapons program, while Russia also faces sanctions by the United States and its Western partners over its aggression in Ukraine