Tag Archives: MISSILES

North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile From Submarine Off Coast Of South

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North Korea has fired a submarine-based ballistic missile off the coast of South Korea leaving the two countries on a war alert.

The incident comes as Pyongyang ramps up military tensions between North and South with a series of armed provocations over the past 12 months.

The latest missile launch, in the Sea of Japan, was announced by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

North Korea appeared to resume activities this year aimed at producing plutonium which can be used
in the core of an atomic bomb the U.N. nuclear watchdog has confirmed, although it added that signs of those activities stopped last month.

The North has even threatened to turn the US and South Korean armies into a “heap of ashes” after they were spotted performing joint military exercises.

N. Korea Elevates Tensions, Fires Missiles, Liquidates South Assets

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North Korea looked to ratchet up already elevated tensions on the Korean peninsula still further Thursday, firing a pair of short-range missiles and announcing the liquidation of all remaining South Korean assets on its territory. The moves were a direct response to unilateral sanctions announced by South Korea on Tuesday to punish the North for its January nuclear test and last month’s long-range rocket launch. Military tensions have been on the rise ever since the January test — the fourth nuclear device North Korea has detonated in defiance of UN resolutions.

The UN Security Council responded with tough, new sanctions, which Pyongyang condemned as a “gangster-like” provocation orchestrated by the United States. The North also reacted furiously to the start earlier this week of large-scale South Korea-US military drills, threatening pre-emptive nuclear strikes against both Seoul and the US mainland. The asset seizure announced on Thursday referred to two now-shuttered joint projects, the Mount Kumgang tourism resort and the Kaesong joint industrial complex. “We will completely liquidate all assets of South Korean firms and related institutions left behind in our region,” the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in statement carried by the North’s official KCNA news agency. – ‘Nullify all agreements’ – “From this time on, we nullify all agreements adopted by North and South Korea on economic cooperation and exchange programmes,” the committee said.

It also warned of other unspecified “special measures” — political, military and economic — it would take against the South in the future. South Korea announced the suspension of operations at the Seoul-funded Kaesong industrial complex last month, saying that money Pyongyang made from the venture was going towards its nuclear weapons programme. The shock announcement prompted the North to expel all South Koreans from the estate and freeze all assets there, shutting down the last symbol of cross-border economic cooperation. An association representing the 120 firms operating factories in Kaesong, which lies just across the North Korean border, estimated the value of the assets left behind at 820 billion won ($663 million). The head of the association, Jeong Gi-Seob, described the liquidation order as “outrageous”.