Page 24 - North Korea

North Korea simulates nuclear attacks with underwater drone, missiles

North Korea said Friday its latest cruise missile launches this week were part of nuclear attack simulations that also involved a test of a purported underwater attack drone as leader Kim Jong Un vowed to make his rivals plunge into despair. North Korea has stepped up its weapons demonstrations this month in a tit-for-tat response to the United States' expanding military exercises with ally South Korea aimed at countering the North's growing nuclear threat. The allies completed an 11-day exercise that included their biggest field training in years on Thursday, but North Korea is expected to continue its weapons tests as the United States reportedly plans to send an aircraft carrier in coming days for another round of joint drills with the South. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim supervised a three-day exercise through Thursday that simulated nuclear counterattacks against enemy naval assets and ports that involved detonations of mock nuclear warheads. KCNA said

S Korea co-sponsors UN resolution on Pyongyang rights after 5-yr hiatus

South Korea has co-sponsored a UN draft resolution on North Korea's human rights violations for the first time in five years, a diplomatic source said on Thursday.

North Korea test-fires cruise missiles towards Eastern water, says S Korea

South Korea says North Korea has test-launched multiple cruise missiles toward the North's eastern waters. The launches on Wednesday are the North's fourth weapons tests since the US and South Korean militaries began large-scale military drills last week. North Korea views the drill as a preparation to attack it. The US-South Korean military drills are to end on Thursday. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired several cruise missiles from its northeastern coastal town of Hamhung. It says the South Korean and US intelligence authorities were analysing further details of the launches.

N Korea launches latest missile simulated nuclear counterattack on S Korea

North Korea said Monday it simulated a nuclear attack on South Korea with a ballistic missile launch over the weekend that was its fifth missile demonstration this month to protest the largest joint military exercises in years between the US and South Korea. The North's leader Kim Jong Un instructed his military to hold more drills to sharpen the war readiness of his nuclear forces in the face of aggression by his enemies, state media reported. The South Korean and Japanese militaries detected the short-range missile being launched Sunday into waters off the North's eastern coast less than an hour before the US flew long-range B-1B bombers for training with South Korean warplanes. The North characterizes the US-South Korea exercises as a rehearsal to invade, though the allies insist they are defensive in nature. Some experts say the North uses the exercises as a pretext to advance its weapons programmes. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said the missile, which flew ..

North Korea criticizes UN, US for raising Pyongyang's human rights issue

The mission stressed that it defines the "pressure campaign" as a violation of the dignity and sovereignty of the North and "resolutely denounces and rejects it,"

US B-1B strategic bomber returns to S.Korea as N.Korea fires missile

A B-1B bomber was previously deployed to the peninsula on March 3, Yonhap news agency reported

About 800,000 civilians willing to join military to fight US: North Korea

North Korea claimed that about 800,000 civilians have volunteered to join the nation's military to fight against the US, CNN reported.North Korea's state newspaper Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported that around 800,000 students and workers alone have expressed their desire to join the military to counter the US.The claim came after North Korea on Thursday launched its Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in response to ongoing US-South Korea military drills, reported CNN.North Korea launched the intercontinental ballistic missile, (ICBM) Hwasongpho-17, amid the ongoing South Korea-US Freedom Shield (FS) exercise, which the country has decried as "preparations for a war of aggression" against it, according to Yonhap News agency.After the launch of the missile, North Korea confirmed they had fired it, adding that it was a "stronger warning" to the US and South Korea for their provocative and aggressive large-scale war drills.In the state news agency, KCNA, North Korea ...

Kim accountable for North Korea's human rights violations: US Ambassador

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un should be held accountable for North Korea's gross human rights violations as the leader of the country, the US Ambassador to the United Nations has said

West puts spotlight on North Korea rights abuses; China, Russia oppose

The United States, its Western allies and experts shone a spotlight on the dire human rights situation and increasing repression in North Korea at a UN meeting on Friday that China and Russia denounced as a politicised move likely to further escalate tensions on the Korean peninsula. China blocked the US from broadcasting the informal Security Council meeting globally on the internet, a decision criticised by US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield as an attempt to hide North Korea's atrocities from the world. Webcasting requires agreement by all 15 council members. But the US envoy said Beijing's effort was in vain because the meeting will be made public, and the US and many others will continue to speak out against Pyongyang's human rights abuses and threats to international peace. James Turpin, a senior official in the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the ongoing tensions on the Korean peninsula pose a threat to regional and international peace and security

Launched ICBM to give stronger warning to US, S Korea over drills: N Korea

North Korea said that launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Hwasongpho-17 was a stronger warning to the US and South Korea for their provocative and aggressive large-scale war drills

Japan needs South Korea to defend against North Korea's missile tests

The prosecutor-turned-politician Yeol made it a high priority six months ago to find a way to pay people forced to work at Japanese colonial-era mines and factories that was acceptable to Tokyo

N Korea launches ICBM before S Korea-Japan summit to display military might

North Korea test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile in a display of military might Thursday just hours before the leaders of South Korea and Japan were to meet at a Tokyo summit expected to be overshadowed by North Korean nuclear threats. The launch, the North's first ICBM test in a month and third weapons testing this week, also comes as South Korean and U.S. troops continue joint military exercises that Pyongyang considers a rehearsal to invade. South Korea's military said the North Korean ICBM flew toward the Korean Peninsula's eastern waters after being launched from North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, around 7.10 a.m. The statement said South Korea's military is maintaining readiness in close coordination with the United States. The Sunan neighbourhood is the site of Pyongyang's international airport and has emerged as a major testing site where the North launched most of its ICBMs in recent years, all flown on a high angle to avoid the territory of neighbours. Japan

North Korea fires another missile toward eastern waters: South Korea

North Korea launched another ballistic missile toward its eastern waters Thursday, South Korean officials said, the third such weapons test this week. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launch occurred in the morning but did not immediately give further details, such as how far the missile flew. Pyongyang had already staged two launch events this week amid joint military exercises being held by South Korea and the United States. North Korea views such drills as a rehearsal for invasion.

North Korea confirms firing of 2 ground-to-ground ballistic missiles

The North said the missiles hit a pre-set target on an islet off its east coast after travelling some 611 km

Japan, South Korea summit must overcome history to renew ties amid tensions

South Korean and Japanese leaders will meet in Tokyo this week, hoping to resume regular visits after a gap of over a decade and overcome resentments that date back more than 100 years. The two major Asian economies and U.S. allies have long hoped to cooperate on shared security concerns about China and North Korea, but previous rounds of diplomacy have foundered on unresolved issues from Japan's 35-year occupation of the Korean Peninsula. Seoul has offered Tokyo concessions on South Korean demands for compensation over wartime forced labor, but it remains to be seen whether the South Korean public will accept reconciliation. The AP explains what's kept the two neighbors apart, what they're expected to talk about, and why it matters for the region. WHAT ARE THE ISSUES? Japan effectively colonized the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945, in a regime that imposed Japanese names and language on Koreans and conscripted many into forced labor or forced prostitution in military brothe

North Korea launches ballistic missile toward eastern waters: Seoul

North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters Tuesday, the South Korean military said, in the country's second weapons launch this week. The launch came a day after the U.S. and South Korean militaries began their largest joint field exercises in years on Monday. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the latest launch was made in the morning but did not offer further details, such as how far the missile flew. A day earlier North Korea said it had test-fired two cruise missiles from a submarine, the first time the country is known to have conducted a launch of that type. Its previous underwater launches all involved ballistic missiles. It was also the first time North Korea fired multiple missiles from a submarine on a single launch event, observers say. Pyongyang had vowed a strong response to the U.S.-South Korean drills because it views such military exercises by its rivals as a rehearsal for invasion.

North Korea tests submarine-launched cruise missile, Seoul confirms

North Korea said Monday it has conducted submarine-launched cruise missile tests, days after its leader Kim Jong Un ordered his troops to be ready to repel its rivals' frantic war preparation moves. The test on Sunday came a day before the U.S. and South Korean militaries begin large-scale joint military drills that North Korea views as a rehearsal for invasion. North Korea's official news outlet, the Korean Central News Agency, said Monday that the missile launches showed the North's resolve to respond with overwhelming powerful forces to the intensifying military maneuvers by the the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces. KCNA also implied that the North aims to arm the cruise missiles tested with nuclear warheads. It said the missiles flew for more than two hours, drawing figure-eight-shaped patterns in waters off the country's eastern coast, and hit targets 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away. The missiles were fired from the 8.24 Yongung ship, KCNA said, referenci

Kim Jong Un supervises N Korean artillery drill planning attack on S Korea

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a frontline artillery drill simulating an attack on an unspecified South Korean airfield as he called for his troops to sharpen their combat readiness in the face of his rivals' "frantic war preparation moves," state media said Friday. The North Korean report came a day after South Korea's military detected the North firing at least one short-range ballistic missile toward the sea from a site near the western coastal city of Nampo and raised the possibility that more missiles may have been launched from the area simultaneously. The launch came as South Korea and the United States prepare to kick off their biggest combined military training exercise in years to counter the growing threat of Kim's nuclear arsenal, which he has aggressively expanded in recent years despite the North's deepening economic isolation and pandemic-related difficulties. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said that Kim urged his troops during Thursday's

UN should demand end to South Korea-US military drills: North Korea

The statement comes after the officials from Seoul and Washington announced on Friday more than 10 days of large-scale military exercises, including amphibious landings, from March 13 to 23

South Korean, US militaries to go ahead with drills despite N Korea threat

The South Korean and US militaries said Friday they'll go ahead with large-scale annual military drills later this month despite North Korea's threats to take unprecedently strong action against such training. It's likely that North Korea will respond to the upcoming South Korean-U.S. exercises with provocative missile tests and belligerent rhetoric because it views them as an invasion rehearsal. In a joint press conference, the South Korean and US militaries said they will conduct the Freedom Shield exercise, a computer-simulated command post training, from March 13-23 to strengthen their defense and response capabilities. They said the training would focus on North Korean aggression, lessons learned from recent conflicts and the changing security environment. The Korea-U.S. alliance will prepare for the FS (Freedom Shield) training while maintaining a firm readiness against potential provocations by the North Korean military, said Col. Lee Sung Jun, a spokesperson at the South ..