Page 13 - North Korea

S Korea agrees to suspend military deal with N Korea over trash balloons

South Korea's government has approved the suspension of a contentious military agreement with North Korea, a step that would allow it to take tougher responses to North Korean provocations. The development came as animosities between the rival Koreas rose sharply recently after North Korea launched trash-carrying balloons across the border in reaction to previous South Korean civilian leafletting campaigns. On Tuesday, South Korea's Cabinet Council passed a proposal aimed at suspending the 2018 inter-Korean agreement on lowering down frontline military tensions. The proposal will formally take effect when it's signed by President Yoon Suk Yeol, likely later Tuesday, according to government officials.

S Korea to nullify peace deal to punish N Korea over balloon launches

South Korea announced Monday it'll suspend a rapprochement deal with North Korea to punish it over its launches of trash-carrying balloons, even after the North said it would halt its balloon campaign. Over several days, North Korea flew hundreds of balloons to drop trash and manure on South Korea in an angry reaction against previous South Korean civilian leafleting campaigns. On Sunday, South Korea said it would take unbearable retaliatory steps in response, before North Korea abruptly announced it would stop flying balloons across the border. On Monday, South Korea's presidential national security council said it has decided to suspend a 2018 inter-Korean agreement aimed at easing frontline animosities, until mutual trust between the two Koreas is restored, according to the presidential office. The security council said the suspension would allow South Korea to resume military drills near the border with North Korea and take effective, immediate responses to provocations by North

North Korea sending more trash carrying balloons across South Korean border

North Korea launched more trash-carrying balloons toward the South after a similar campaign earlier in the week, according to South Korea's military, in what Pyongyang calls retaliation for activists flying anti-North Korean leaflets across the border. South Korea's Defence Ministry did not immediately comment on the number of balloons it had detected or how many have landed in South Korea. The military advised people to beware of falling objects and not to touch objects suspected to be from North Korea, but report them to military or police offices instead. In Seoul, the capital, the city government sent text alerts saying that unidentified objects suspected to be flown from North Korea were being detected in skies near the city and that the military was responding to them. The North's balloon launches added to a recent series of provocative steps, which include its failed spy satellite launch and test-firings of about 10 suspected short-range missiles this week. South Korea's ...

US, allies clash with China and Russia over North Korea's launches

The United States and allies South Korea and Japan clashed with China and Russia on Friday over North Korea's latest satellite and ballistic missile launches and threats to use nuclear weapons that have escalated tensions in northeast Asia. The scene was an emergency open meeting of the UN Security Council called after North Korea's failed launch of a military reconnaissance satellite on May 27 and other launches using ballistic missile technology in violation of UN sanctions. Since the beginning of 2022, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea the North's official name has launched over 100 missiles using this banned technology as it has advanced its nuclear weapons programme. In response, the US and its allies have carried out an increasing number of military exercises. UN Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari briefed the council meeting saying sovereign states have the right to benefit from peaceful space activities but the DPRK is expressly prohibited from conducting ..

North Korea fired a barrage of ballistic missiles, alleges South Korea

North Korea on Thursday fired a barrage of suspected ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea, according to South Korea's military, days after its attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure but still drew strong condemnation from its rivals. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the North firing around 10 projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang. It said the suspected missiles flew around 350 kilometers (217 miles) before landing in waters off the North's eastern coast. It said the South Korean military has increased surveillance and vigilance and is closely sharing information with the United States and Japan. Japan's coast guard issued a maritime safety advisory over the North Korean launches and urged ships to exercise caution if they find any fallen objects. Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that the suspected missiles were believed to have landed in waters

Kim Jong Un doubles down on satellite ambitions after failed launch

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un urged his military scientists to overcome a failed satellite launch and continue developing space-based reconnaissance capabilities, which he described as crucial for countering US and South Korean military activities, state media said on Wednesday. In a speech on Tuesday, Kim also warned of unspecified stern action against South Korea over an exercise involving 20 fighter jets near the inter-Korean border hours before North Korea's failed launch on Monday. Kim called the South Korean response hysterical insanity and a very dangerous provocation that cannot be ignored, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. Kim visited the North's Academy of Defence Sciences a day after a rocket carrying what would have been his country's second military reconnaissance satellite exploded shortly after liftoff. North Korea's aerospace technology administration said the explosion was possibly related to the reliability of a newly developed rocket engine .

North Korea says latest military satellite launch exploded in flight

The attempt came just hours after Pyongyang issued a warning that it would try to launch a satellite by June 4, in what would have been its second spy satellite in orbit

North Korea appears to have fired missile into sea, say Japan, South Korea

North Korea had earlier notified Japan's coast guard about its plans to launch "a satellite rocket" during a launch window from Monday through June 3

North Korea to launch rocket carrying its 2nd military spy satellite

North Korea on Monday announced plans to launch a rocket apparently carrying its second military spy satellite by early next week, drawing quick, strong rebukes from neighbours South Korea and Japan. The notification of the planned launch, banned under UN resolutions, came as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Seoul for their first trilateral meeting in more than four years. Japan's coast guard said it was notified by North Korea about its planned launch of a satellite rocket", with safety cautioned in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and China and east of the Philippine island of Luzon beginning Monday and running through midnight June 3. North Korea gives Japan its launch information because Japan's coast guard coordinates and distributes maritime safety information in East Asia. North Korea's planned launch likely would be an attempt to put its second military spy satellite into orbit. South Korea

North Korea informs Japan of plan to launch satellite rocket by June 3

Japan said Monday that North Korea has informed it of a plan to launch a satellite by June 3. Japan's coast guard said it has been notified by North Korea about its planned launch of a "satellite rocket" beginning Monday through midnight June 3. The launch plan likely refers to the North's efforts to launch its second military spy satellite into space. South Korea's military said Friday it detected signs that North Korea is engaging in activities believed to be preparations to launch a spy satellite at its main Tongchangri launch facility in the northwest. Last November, North Korea sent its first military reconnaissance satellite into orbit as part of its efforts to build a space-based surveillance network to deal with what it calls US-led military threats. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later told a key governing party meeting that the country would launch three additional military spy satellites in 2024. The UN bans North Korea from conducting satellite launches, considering

North Korea fires multiple short-range ballistic missiles, Seoul condemns

North Korea has launched ballistic and cruise missiles as well as tactical rockets in recent months, describing them as part of a program to upgrade its defensive capabilities

Kim Jong Un's sister denies North Korea supplied weapons to Russia

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again denied Friday that her country has exported any weapons to Russia, as she labeled outside speculation on North Korea-Russian arms dealings as the most absurd paradox. The US, South Korea and others have steadfastly accused North Korea of supplying artillery, missiles and other conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine in return for advanced military technologies and economic aid. Both North Korea and Russia have repeatedly dismissed that. Foreign experts believe North Korea's recent series of artillery and short-range missile tests were meant to examine or advertise the weapons it was planning to sell to Russia. Kim Yo Jong called outside assessments on the North Korean-Russian dealings the most absurd paradox which is not worth making any evaluation or interpretation. We have no intention to export our military technical capabilities to any country or open them to the public, she said in a statement carrie

Kim Jong Un supervises latest test of new multiple rocket launcher

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised another test firing of a new multiple rocket launch system the country plans to deploy to its forces starting this year, state media said on Saturday, part of its move to bolster its lineup of weapons targeting South Korean population centres. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Friday's test confirmed the advantage and destructive power of the 240-millimetre multiple rocket launcher and its guided shells. The agency said the system, which the North already tested twice this year, will be deployed to combat units from 2024 to 2026 to replace older weapons. North Korea in recent months has maintained an accelerated pace in weapons testing as it expands its military capabilities while diplomacy with the United States and South Korea remains stalled. Experts say Kim's goal is to eventually pressure the United States into accepting the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiating economic and security concessions fr

N Korea's propaganda mastermind who shaped the image of leaders dies at 94

Kim Ki Nam helped forge the cult of personality for the family dynasty that has ruled N Korea since its founding in the Cold War

North Korea sends delegation to Iran to break its diplomatic isolation

A high-level North Korean economic delegation was on its way to Iran, the North's state media said Wednesday, for what would be the two countries' first known talks since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Embracing the idea of a new Cold War, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is pushing to build up cooperation with countries confronting the United States, as his intensified weapons tests prompted the US and South Korea to expand their military drills. Pyongyang's delegation led by Yun Jung Ho, North Korea's minister of external economic relations, flew out Tuesday for the trip to Iran, official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday. State media did not immediately provide further details. Pyongyang and Tehran are among the few governments in the world that support Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, and both have been accused of providing Russia with military equipment. The last known time North Korea sent senior officials to Iran was in August 2019, when a

N Korea's Kim Jong Un leads rocket drills to simulate nuclear counterattack

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised salvo launches of the country's super-large multiple rocket launchers that simulated a nuclear counterattack against enemy targets, state media said Tuesday, adding to tests and threats that have raised tensions in the region. The report by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency came a day after the South Korean and Japanese militaries detected the North firing what they suspected were multiple short-range ballistic missiles from a region near its capital, Pyongyang, toward its eastern seas. Analysts say North Korea's large-sized artillery rockets blur the boundary between artillery systems and ballistic missiles because they can create their own thrust and are guided during delivery. The North has described some of these systems, including the 600mm multiple rocket launchers that were tested Monday, as capable of delivering tactical nuclear warheads. KCNA said Monday's launches represented the first demonstration of the country

Tested 'super-large' cruise missile warhead, anti-aircraft missile: N Korea

North Korea said Saturday it tested a super-large cruise missile warhead and a new anti-aircraft missile in a western coastal area as it expands military capabilities in the face of deepening tensions with the United States and South Korea. North Korean state media said the country's missile administration on Friday conducted a power test for the warhead designed for the Hwasal-1 Ra-3 strategic cruise missile and a test-launch of the Pyoljji-1-2 anti-aircraft missile. It said the tests attained an unspecified certain goal. Photos released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency showed at least two missiles being fired off launcher trucks at a runway. North Korea conducted a similar set of tests Feb. 2, but at the time did not specify the names of the cruise missile or the anti-aircraft missile, indicating it was possibly seeing technological progress after testing the same system over weeks. KCNA insisted Friday's tests were part of the North's regular military developme

US govt aims to begin new North Korea sanctions monitoring regime by May

Russia rejected the annual renewal of the panel last month, while China abstained from the vote

US envoy vows support for Japanese families abducted, taken to N Korea

America stands with Japan until all the Japanese abducted by North Korea decades ago return home to end their painful separation, United States ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said ON Thursday in Tokyo. Japan says North Korea abducted at least 17 Japanese citizens, possibly many more, to train them as agents during the 1970s and 1980s. Twelve remain missing. They include teenage students and others living along Japan's coasts, and many were bundled into small boats and taken across the sea to North Korea. Thomas-Greenfield began her Japan visit by meeting with families of those kidnapped. The United Stats stands with all the families, with all of Japan and with the international community in pressing for a resolution that will allow all families separated by the regime's policies to be reunited, she said at the outset of her meeting with five relatives of the abductees and a representative from their support group at the Prime Minister's Office. I'm all too

US mulling options 'both inside and outside the UN' to monitor N Korea

The United States and its allies are discussing options both inside and outside the UN system to create a new mechanism for monitoring North Korea over its nuclear weapons programme, the American ambassador to the United Nations said on Wednesday. Russia last month vetoed a UN resolution in a move that effectively abolished monitoring by UN experts of Security Council sanctions against North Korea, which prompted Western accusations that Moscow was acting to shield its arms purchases from North Korea to fuel its war in Ukraine. I look forward to engaging with both the Republic of Korea and Japan, but like-minded (countries) as well, on trying to develop options both inside the UN as well as outside the UN. The point here is that we cannot allow the work that the panel of experts were doing to lapse, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told a news conference in Seoul, using the formal name for South Korea. Thomas-Greenfield didn't provide specific details about US discussions with