World News
You’ll pay the most horrible price in history, N’Korea warns US, S’Korea, after firing missiles into Ulleungdo
North Korea fired more than 10 missiles Wednesday, including one that landed close to South Korea’s waters in what President Yoon Suk-yeol said was “effectively a territorial invasion”.
It also fired an artillery barrage into a maritime “buffer zone”, in what experts said was part of an “aggressive and threatening” response by Pyongyang to the large-scale joint air drills the United States and South Korea are currently conducting.
One short-range ballistic missile crossed the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border between the two countries, prompting a rare warning for residents on the island of Ulleungdo to seek shelter in bunkers.
The military said it was the “first time since the peninsula was divided” at the end of Korean War hostilities in 1953 that a North Korean missile had landed so close to the South’s territorial waters.
“President Yoon pointed out today that North Korea’s provocation is an effective territorial invasion by a missile that crossed the Northern Limit Line for the first time since the division,” his office said in a statement.
The missile closest to South Korea landed in waters just 57 kilometres (35 miles) east of the mainland, the military said, adding it was a “very rare and intolerable” incident.
Soon after, the South Korean military said it had fired three air-to-ground missiles into the sea towards the north of the two countries’ maritime boundary.
An air raid warning was issued for Ulleungdo after the North Korean missile launch. The alert was flashed on national television and told residents to “evacuate to the nearest underground shelter”.
The South Korean military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff initially said it detected the launch of three short-range ballistic missiles.
But it later announced North Korea had fired more than 10 missiles “of various types today towards the east and west”.
President Yoon called a meeting of the National Security Council, ordering “swift and stern measures so that North Korea’s provocations pay a clear price”.
South Korea closed some air routes over the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, advising local airlines to detour to “ensure passenger safety in the routes to the United States and Japan”.
– Vigilant Storm –
Pyongyang’s latest test-firing came as Seoul and Washington staged their largest-ever joint air drills, dubbed “Vigilant Storm”, which involve hundreds of warplanes from both sides.
Pak Jong Chon, a high-ranking North Korean official, said the drills were aggressive and provocative, according to a report in state media Wednesday.
Pak said the name of the exercises harked back to Operation Desert Storm, the US-led military assault on Iraq in 1990-1991 after it invaded Kuwait.
“If the US and South Korea attempt to use armed forces against the (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) without any fear, the special means of the DPRK’s armed forces will carry out their strategic mission without delay,” he said.
“The US and South Korea will have to … pay the most horrible price in history.”
North Korea’s missile launches on Wednesday appeared to be “the most aggressive and threatening armed demonstration against the South since 2010,” Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at the Sejong Institute, told AFP.
“It is now a dangerous and unstable situation that could lead to armed conflict,” he added.
In March 2010, a North Korean submarine torpedoed the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan, killing 46 sailors, including 16 who were on their mandatory military service.
In November of the same year, the North shelled a South Korean border island, killing two marines — both of them young conscripts.
Wednesday’s missile tests follow a recent blitz of launches, including what the North said were tactical nuclear drills.
Washington and Seoul have repeatedly warned the launches could culminate in another nuclear test — which would be Pyongyang’s seventh.
“Pyongyang seems to have completed its most powerful deterrent. This is a serious threat,” Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University, told AFP.
“The North also seems confident in their nuclear capabilities,” Park added.
The North’s latest launches came with South Korea in a period of national mourning after more than 150 people — mostly young women in their 20s — were killed in a crowd crush in Seoul on Saturday.
It shows “North Korea’s clear priorities,” Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP.
“Pyongyang probably thinks it has no reason to take the Itaewon tragedy into its consideration, as Seoul and Washington’s largest-ever joint air drills are also happening anyway,” he added.
Volodymyr Zelensky, on Monday, expressed his readiness for a face-to-face meeting with Vladmir Putting, after a devastating overnight Russian blitzkrieg from Russian forces, which hit Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, setting fire on Dormition Cathedral, one of the iconic Orthodox monasteries in the country.
Reports, about the incident, narrated how residents, scampered in different directions as they sought safety from the projectiles intercepted in the sky and glowing debris falling across the city, with Zelensky, for the umpteenth times calling on world leaders to mount more pressure on Moscow from G7 summit in France.
As onslaught, said to have killed five people and wounded 34, following the outbreak of the fire on the grounds of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, a UNESCO world heritage site, Zelensky, reportedly told US President Donald Trump he was willing to meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the United States.
Quoted as calling it an offer Putin would find “harder to refuse,” the Ukrainian leader, reportedly, said on his social media handles: “This is one of Russia’s most serious crimes against Christian culture to date.
Denying a direct attack on the iconic monument, founded in the 11th century, with huge significance for Orthodox believers in both Ukraine and Russia, Russia’s military said it only carried out a “massive strike” on military sites in Kyiv, as well as the Kharkiv and Dnipro regions, saying the facility was hit by an outdated US Patriot air defence missile.
But Zelensky, who visited the site said two Russian drones “deliberately” targeted Kyiv’s monastery quarter in the attack where Moscow was said to have fired 70 missiles and 611 drones, mainly targeting the capital, Ukraine’s air force said, adding that it had downed 50 of the missiles and 582 drones.
Makariy, a resident monk in the monastery, quoted as saying that he jumped from his bed after having been woken by a strong roar at five in the morning, was reported to have added that after stepping out of his room, he saw the complex engulfed in “fire and smoke” and took cover in a shelter.
Kyiv’s Metropolitan Epiphanius, heading the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, who joined the United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO in condemning the attack, said to have killed 11 people, including four in Kyiv and five — rescue workers and a civil servant — in the northeastern city of Kharkiv was quoted to have said: “What more must the Kremlin antichrist do for the world to realise that decisive action must be taken to stop Russian terror against Ukraine and against the very principles of peace?”
In Russia, a Ukrainian drone strike also killed three people and wounded three others in the city of Tula, around 200 kilometres (125 miles) south of Moscow, the regional governor Dmitry Milyaev said on Monday.
Zelensky said he was waiting to see what came of his proposal to meet Putin in the US, warning that if Russia again refuses talks, “additional pressure will be needed.”
Putin has repeatedly rejected calls for a face-to-face meeting, including a fresh invitation from Zelensky to meet during the G7 summit.
Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has turned into Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, with thousands of civilians and hundreds of thousands of troops killed.
As the near-daily pummelling of its cities by Russian drones and missiles continues, Ukraine has in recent weeks stepped up its own aerial attacks, which it says mostly target Russia’s oil infrastructure to sap its profits that fund the war.
Journalists and other guests, were forced to dock under their tables, fended by security operatives after sounds of gunshots were heard within the precinct of the venue where Donald Trump, President of the United States was hosting media personalities to a dinner on Saturday.
The POTUS and his wife Melania, were declared unhurt after the incident, in which one person was arrested and taken away and is said to be currently in custordy, as a result.
The incident took place at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday night, with the United States Secret Service confirming that a suspect was been taken into custody, adding that investigations were ongoing in collaboration with local law enforcement.
The shooting occurred near the main security screening area at the event venue, the Washington Hilton, where hundreds of journalists, politicians, and guests had gathered, reports say, quoting the statement as saying: “The President and first lady are safe along with all protectees.”
The report maintained that the condition of those involved in the incident was still being assessed, while witnesses said they heard what sounded like gunshots shortly after 8:30 p.m., triggering panic as attendees fled the ballroom.
Security operatives were seen swiftly evacuating top officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance and members of the cabinet with a video footage from the scene showing Secret Service agents clearing the stage and ushering the President and other dignitaries to safety, while voices were heard urging people to “stay down.”
Trump, who spoke shortly after the incident, praised security agencies for their swift response, saying via a post on social media: “Secret Service and law enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended.”
He added that while he initially suggested the event continue, final decisions would be made by security authorities, noting that the evening’s programme had been significantly disrupted.
Organisers later confirmed that the president would address the press, with plans to possibly reschedule the event within 30 days.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is an annual gathering that brings together journalists, political leaders, and public figures, and is often seen as a key moment celebrating press freedom in the United States.
With the announcement of a $10million bounty on the head of Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new Supreme Leader, The United States, appears to be showing no let in its campaign in the Middle East country, where it had already killed scores of its previous leaders.
“These individuals command and direct various elements of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which plans, organizes and executes terrorism around the world,” the State Department said, to indicate Washington’s preparedness to pay $10 million reward for information about the whereabouts of Khamenei, whose father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed at the start of the campaign a fortnight ago.
The department’s Rewards for Justice Programme (RFJP) placed a bounty on 10 of Iran’s most senior remaining leaders, including Khamenei and Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and the country’s top security official, said to lead the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, accused of planning, organising and executing terrorism around the world.
The RFJP has previously offered bounties for terrorists like former al-Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, as well as Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was the subject of a $10 million reward under the programme until he was removed in 2024.
Five of the people designated on Friday are listed by their titles with no name or photograph, including “secretary of the defense council” and “the IRGC commander.”
The United States and Israel have killed many of Iran’s top leaders, including former IRGC commander Mohammad Pakpour and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the former supreme leader and Mojtaba’s father.
Ali Larijani, the secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, who had also appeared in a live interview with Iranian media during the march, had posted a video of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian walking in Tehran on Friday for the country’s annual Quds Day demonstrations against Israel.
Taunting U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s claim that Iranian leaders were hiding undergroundm, he wrote: “Mr. Hegseth, our leaders have been, and still are, among the people. But your leaders? On Epstein’s island!”
Earlier Donald Trump, U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News in an interview that aired Friday morning to underscore his belief that Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since he was elevated to supreme leader, was wounded, said: “I think he’s damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form,”
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