Seoul: North Korea successfully tested its multiple-warhead missile capability, state media said Thursday, as dozens more trash-laden balloons from Pyongyang landed in the South.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang ramping up weapons testing while bombarding the South with balloons full of trash it says are in retaliation to similar missives sent northwards by activists in the South.
The balloons briefly forced Seoul’s major hub Incheon Airport to close on Wednesday, and in response to the successive launches, South has fully suspended a tension-reducing military treaty and re-started propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts and live-fire drills near the border.
North Korea claimed it had “successfully conducted the separation and guidance control test of individual mobile warheads,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Thursday.
The “separated mobile warheads were guided correctly to the three coordinate targets” during the test, carried out the day before, it said.
“The test is aimed at securing the MIRV capability,” KCNA added, referring to multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle technology — or the ability to fire multiple warheads on a single ballistic missile.
South Korea’s military had previously said the North’s test on Wednesday appeared to be of a hypersonic missile, but that the launch ended in a mid-air explosion.
More smoke than usual appeared to emanate from the missile, raising the possibility of combustion issues, the official said, adding it may have been powered by solid propellants.
According to KCNA, the test “was carried out by use of the first-stage engine of an intermediate-range solid-fuel ballistic missile within a 170-200 kilometer (105 to 124-mile) radius.”
“The effectiveness of a decoy separated from the missile was also verified by anti-air radar,” it said.
Acquiring multiple-warhead missile technology is an ultimate goal for nations seeking ICBM-level missiles to carry nuclear warheads, said Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
It appears the North is “testing such technology step by step over the long haul,” he told AFP.
“They appear to be making technological advancements in the early development stages of multiple-warhead missiles.”
For three consecutive days, North Korea has floated hundreds of trash-carrying balloons southward in a tit-for-tat propaganda campaign.
Seoul’s military said around 70 balloons had landed by Thursday morning, mainly in northern Gyeonggi province and the Seoul area, with the contents found to not be hazardous.
“The payload is about 10 kilograms (22 pounds), so there is a risk if the balloons descend rapidly,” it said, adding the military was ready to respond.
The response to the latest balloons “will be flexible depending on the strategic and operational situation. This depends on North Korea’s actions,” it added.
South Korea’s Marine Corps resumed live-fire exercises on islands near the western inter-Korean border on Wednesday, marking the first such exercises since the 2018 tension-reducing military deal with the North was fully suspended this month.
South Korea and the United States also staged joint air drills Wednesday involving around 30 aircraft, including Washington’s advanced stealth fighter jet, F-22 Raptor.
President Yoon Suk Yeol visited a US aircraft carrier on Tuesday that arrived in South Korea for joint trilateral military drills this week aimed at countering North Korean threats.
The drills, which run from Thursday to Saturday, involve Washington’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt, Tokyo’s guided missile destroyer JS Atago, and Seoul’s fighter jet KF-16s, among other assets.
Pyongyang has routinely criticized such exercises as rehearsals for an invasion.
North Korea says successfully tested multiple-warhead missile
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North Korea says successfully tested multiple-warhead missile
- South Korea’s military had previously said the North’s test on Wednesday appeared to be of a hypersonic missile
- Acquiring multiple-warhead missile technology is an ultimate goal for nations seeking ICBM-level missiles to carry nuclear warheads
Suspected suicide bombers kill at least 18 in Nigeria, authorities say
- Attackers separately targetted a wedding, funeral and hospital in the town of Gwoza, says Borno emergency official Barkindo Saidu
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: At least 18 people were killed and 30 others injured after a series of attacks by suspected female suicide bombers in Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state on Saturday, the head of the local state emergency management agency said.
Borno is at the center of a 15-year Islamist insurgency that has killed thousands of people and displaced millions more. Although the Nigerian military has degraded the capabilities of the militants, they still carry out deadly attacks against civilians and security targets.
Barkindo Saidu, director general of the Borno State Emergency Management Agency, said suspected suicide bombers separately attacked a wedding, funeral and hospital, killing and injuring several people in the town of Gwoza.
Saidu said 18 deaths had been confirmed, a toll that included children, adults and pregnant women. “The degree of injuries ranges from abdominal ruptures, scull fractures, and limb fractures,” he said.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Borno state police were not immediately available for comment.
Boko Haram and its splinter group, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), are the most active militant groups in Borno, a large swathe of rural hinterland the size of Ireland.
UK Reform leader Farage speech interrupted by banner mocking Putin views
- Farage is seeking election as a lawmaker, or member of parliament (MP), in Clacton-on-Sea, which is nine miles from Walton on the Naze
LONDON: A speech being delivered by Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain’s right-wing Reform UK party, was interrupted late Saturday when a banner of Russian President Vladimir Putin descended from the ceiling at an election rally.
Campaign group Led by Donkeys, which opposes Farage’s views, said it was responsible for the stunt at the Columbine Center, at Walton on the Naze in southeast England, and posted a video of the unveiling on X.
That showed the banner slowly unfurling behind a speaking Farage, revealing a smiling Putin giving a thumbs-up sign, along with the words “I (heart emoji) Putin.”
Led By Donkeys said on X: “Nigel Farage says Putin is the world leader he ‘admires the most’ and blames the West for Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
That was a reference to comments Farage made earlier this month when he said the eastward expansion of the European Union and NATO had provoked Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The remarks, made in an interview with the BBC, drew strong criticism across the British political spectrum ahead of a July 4 national election in which Farage’s party is predicted to win millions of votes.
On seeing the banner, Farage said: “Who put that up there,” adding: “Someone at the Columbine Center needs to get the sack.”
The audience then started chanting: “Rip it down.”
Reuters has sought comment from Reform UK.
Farage is seeking election as a lawmaker, or member of parliament (MP), in Clacton-on-Sea, which is nine miles from Walton on the Naze.
On Friday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was hurt and angry that a supporter of Reform UK had been recorded making a racial slur about him, saying it was too important for him not to speak out.
Putin calls for resuming production of intermediate missiles after scrapping of treaty with US
- The US withdrew from the treaty in 2019, citing Russian violations
- The last remaining arms-control pact between the US and Russia is the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called for resuming production of intermediate-range missiles that were banned under a now-scrapped treaty with the United States.
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, or INF, which banned ground-based nuclear and conventional missiles with a range of 500-5,500 kilometers (310-3,410 miles), was regarded as an arms control landmark when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan signed it in 1988.
The US withdrew from the treaty in 2019, citing Russian violations.
“We need to start production of these strike systems and then, based on the actual situation, make decisions about where — if necessary to ensure our safety — to place them,” Putin said at a meeting of Russia’s national security council.
Putin said Russia hadn’t produced such missiles since the 2019 treaty scrapping, but that “today it is known that the United States not only produces these missile systems, but has already brought them to Europe for exercises, to Denmark. Quite recently it was announced that they are in the Philippines.”
Since withdrawing from the treaty, the US Army has moved forward with developing a conventional, ground-launched, midrange missile capability called the Typhon that would have been banned under the INF. The Typhon fires two Navy missiles, the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile and Standard Missile-6.
The US Army ran the system through tests during an exercise in the Philippines this spring.
The end of the INF was a milestone in the deterioration of relations between the US and Russia.
The last remaining arms-control pact between Washington and Moscow is the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers. It’s set to expire in 2026, and the lack of dialogue on anchoring a successor deal has worried arms control advocates.
Putin’s statement comes amid rising tensions between Russia and the West over the conflict in Ukraine and concern about possible nuclear attacks.
In June, Putin spoke to executives from international news organizations about Moscow’s use of nuclear weapons.
“We have a nuclear doctrine, look what it says,” he said. “If someone’s actions threaten our sovereignty and territorial integrity, we consider it possible for us to use all means at our disposal. This should not be taken lightly, superficially.”
Russia says Ukraine shells Kursk region after deadly drone attack
- A video posted on Smirnov’s Telegram channel showed him at a destroyed house amid piles of rubble and building materials
KYIV: The governor of southern Russia’s Kursk region said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces had shelled parts of the region throughout the day after an overnight drone attack on a village killed five people, including two children.
Governor Alexei Smirnov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the five fatalities occurred in a house in the village of Gorodishche, east of the regional center of Kursk. Two family members were being treated in hospital.
A video posted on Smirnov’s Telegram channel showed him at a destroyed house amid piles of rubble and building materials.
Smirnov said Ukrainian forces had shelled eight villages near the border intermittently throughout the day. Two residents from the village of Guyevo were reported to have been injured.
Reuters could not independently verify the reported shelling of the region.
North Korea blames South Korea, US and Japan ties as Asian version of NATO
- On Thursday, the three countries began large-scale joint military drills involving navy destroyers, fighter jets and the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, aimed at boosting defenses against missiles, submarines and air attacks
SEOUL: North Korea criticized the trilateral “Freedom Edge” military exercise by South Korea, Japan and the United States held this month, state media said on Sunday, saying such drills show the relationship among three countries has developed into “the Asian version of NATO.”
On Thursday, the three countries began large-scale joint military drills involving navy destroyers, fighter jets and the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, aimed at boosting defenses against missiles, submarines and air attacks.
The “Freedom Edge” exercise was devised at the three-way summit at Camp David last year to strengthen military cooperation amid tensions on the Korean peninsula stemming from North Korea’s weapons testing.
Pyongyang will not ignore the strengthening of a military bloc led by the US and its allies and will protect regional peace with an aggressive and overwhelming response, North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement, according to KCNA news agency.
The ministry also said Washington was continuing its effort to link up South Korea and Japan to NATO, adding South Korea’s attempts to supply weapons to Ukraine is one example of that effort.
South Korea said it would review the possibility of supplying arms directly to Ukraine, in protest against a recent mutual defense pact signed between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
South Korea and the United States have accused the North of supplying weapons to Russia that are being used in the Ukraine war. Both Russia and North Korea deny any such transactions.
North Korea has long condemned joint drills between the United States and South Korea as a rehearsal for invasion and proof of hostile policies by Washington and Seoul.
Last year, the three countries staged joint naval missile defense and anti-submarine exercises to improve responses to North Korean threats.
