North Korea fires short-range 'projectiles' into sea: Seoul
Seoul: North Korea launched unidentified projectiles into the sea Saturday, the South Korean military said, in what could be Pyongyang's first short-range missile launch for more than a year as it seeks to up pressure on Washington with nuclear talks deadlocked.
The United States and North Korea have been at loggerheads since the collapse of a summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump in February, where the two sides clashed over sanctions and the extent of Pyongyang's concessions on its atomic arsenal.
North Korea "fired a number of short-range projectiles from its Hodo peninsula near the east coast town of Wonsan to the northeastern direction from 9:06 am (0006 GMT) to 09:27 am today", the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
The projectiles travelled from 70 to 200 kilometres (45 to 125 miles) towards the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, the JCS added.
In an earlier statement, it had said Pyongyang had launched an unidentified short-range missile. The last North Korean missile launch was in November 2017.
The latest firing comes just a day after South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Pyongyang should show "visible, concrete and substantial" denuclearisation action if it wants sanctions relief.
That issue was also at the centre of the February talks in Hanoi, where North Korea demanded immediate sanctions relief, but the two sides disagreed on what Pyongyang should give up in return.
Earlier this week, North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui warned Washington of an "unwanted outcome" if it did not adjust its stance on economic sanctions.
North Korea did not carry out any missile or nuclear tests last year, as Kim held his first historic summits with the leaders of the United States and South Korea.
Saturday's launch "does not violate Kim Jong Un's self-imposed missile-testing moratorium", which "only applied to intercontinental-range ballistic missiles", said North Korea analyst Ankit Panda.
"North Korea historically did not generally test anything while talks were on with the US. Talks are not on." The White House said it was "aware of North Korea's actions tonight". "We will continue to monitor as necessary," Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
Japan, meanwhile, said there was "no confirmation of ballistic missiles" entering its territory.
"At this point, there is no confirmation of any situation that may impact our national security," the Japanese defence ministry said in a statement.
Hodo Peninsula, where Saturday's firing took place, has been used as a training area for "live-fire testing, training exercises for artillery and coastal defence cruise missiles" since the 1960s, according to the respected 38 North website.
It wasn't until the mid-1990s that a "formal training area" was established in the region, and Hodo has been "increasingly used for ballistic missile and long-range artillery rocket testing" during the last 10 years, it added.
Since the collapse of the Hanoi summit between Kim and Trump in February, South Korean president Moon Jae-in -- who brokered the first meeting between the mercurial leaders -- has tried to salvage diplomacy, but Pyongyang has remained largely unresponsive.
Kim slammed the South in a speech to his country's rubber-stamp legislature last month, saying it should not "pose as a meddlesome 'mediator'" between the US and Pyongyang.
Last week, on the anniversary of the Panmunjom summit, Pyongyang's state media KCNA said Washington and Seoul "keep pushing the situation of the Korean peninsula and the region to an undesirable phase", criticising their joint military exercises.
"Chairman Kim has decided to remind the world -- and specifically the United States -- that his weapons capabilities are growing by the day," said Harry J Kazianis, Director of Korean Studies at the Center for the National Interest.
"My fear is that we are at the beginning stages of a slide back to the days of nuclear war threats and personal insults, a dangerous cycle of spiking tensions that must be avoided at all costs."
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
