SEOUL: North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile Thursday, Seoul’s military said, the latest in a record-breaking blitz of launches as Pyongyang warned of a “fiercer” military response to the US and its regional allies.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the military had “detected around 10:48 am (0148 GMT) one short-range ballistic missile fired from the Wonsan area in Kangwon province.”
“The military has stepped up monitoring and guard and are maintaining utmost readiness in close coordination with the US,” it added.
Earlier this week, US President Joe Biden discussed North Korea’s spate of recent missile tests with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia.
The US leader pushed China to use its influence to rein in North Korea after the wave of missile launches raised fears the reclusive regime would soon carry out its seventh nuclear test.
Biden also held talks with his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday to discuss ways to address the threat posed by the North’s “unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs,” the White House said.
On Thursday, North Korea’s minister of foreign affairs, Choe Son Hui, slammed those discussions, saying they were “bringing the situation on the Korean peninsula to an unpredictable phase.”
“The US ‘bolstered offer of extended deterrence’ and the daily-increasing military activities of the allied forces around the Korean peninsula are foolish acts,” Choe said in a statement carried by state news agency KCNA.
The more Washington works to strengthen its security alliance with Tokyo and Seoul, “the fiercer the DPRK’s military counteraction will be,” Choe said, referring to the North by its official name.
Experts said the Thursday missile launch was timed to coincide with the statement from Pyongyang’s foreign minister.
The North “fired the missile after releasing the statement hours earlier in an attempt to justify the launch to send its message to the US and Japan,” Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at the Sejong Institute told AFP.
Earlier this month, North Korea conducted a flurry of launches, including a November 2 barrage in which Pyongyang fired 23 missiles — more than during the whole of 2017, the year of “fire and fury” when Kim traded barbs with then US president Donald Trump.
The blitz came as hundreds of US and South Korean warplanes — including B-1B heavy bombers — participated in joint air drills, which have long sparked strong reactions from North Korea, which sees them as rehearsals for an invasion.
Experts say North Korea is seizing the opportunity to conduct banned missile tests, confident of escaping further UN sanctions due to Ukraine-linked gridlock at the United Nations.
China, Pyongyang’s main diplomatic and economic ally, joined Russia in May in vetoing a US-led bid at the UN Security Council to tighten sanctions on North Korea.
Washington has responded to North Korea’s sanctions-busting missile tests by extending exercises with the South and deploying a strategic bomber.
Pyongyang has also been under a self-imposed coronavirus blockage since early 2020, which experts say would limit the impact of any additional external sanctions.
“Choe Son Hui’s threatening statement and North Korea’s most recent missile launch are attempts to signal that Pyongyang won’t back down under international pressure,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
But he said it was clear that Biden, Yoon and Kishida’s summit had taken “substantive steps on trilateral coordination,” even as China’s Xi ended his Covid-linked isolation with a “relative charm offensive” at the recent G20 summit.
“At some point, Chinese interests will prefer exerting pressure on Pyongyang rather than face a more strategically united US, South Korea and Japan,” Eastley added.
North Korea fires missile hours after warning of ‘fiercer’ military response
https://arab.news/97a4h
North Korea fires missile hours after warning of ‘fiercer’ military response
- US President Joe Biden earlier discussed North Korea’s spate of recent missile tests with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping
Homeless Muslims in southern Philippines observe Ramadan as month of trial
- Thousands lost their homes when parts of Bongao in Tawi-Tawi were burnt to ashes
- Many trying to fully observe the fasting month say they are grateful to be alive
Manila: As Annalexis Abdulla Dabbang was looking forward to observing the month of Ramadan with her family, just days before it began they lost everything when an enormous fire tore through whole neighborhoods of their city in the southernmost province of the Philippines.
Bongao is the capital of Tawi-Tawi, an island province, forming part of the country’s Muslim minority heartland in the Bangsamoro region. The city experienced its worst fire in years in early February, when flames swept through the coastal community, leaving more than 5,000 people homeless.
“We were swimming for our lives. We had to swim to escape from the fire ... We swam in darkness, and (even) the sea was already hot because of the fire,” Dabbang, a 27-year-old teacher, told Arab News.
“Everything we owned was gone in just a few hours — our home, our memories, the things we worked hard for, everything turned to ashes.”
Trying to save their 2-year-old daughter and themselves, she and her husband left everything behind — as did hundreds of other families that together with them have since taken shelter at the Mindanao State University gymnasium — one of the evacuation centers.
Unable to secure a tent, Dabbang’s family has been sleeping on the bleachers, sharing a single mat as their bed. When Ramadan arrived a few days after they moved to the makeshift shelter, they welcomed it in a different, more solemn way. There is no family privacy for suhoor, no room or means to welcome guests for iftar.
“Ramadan feels different now. It’s painful but at the same time more real. When we lost our home, we began to understand what sacrifice really means. When you sleep in an evacuation center, you understand hunger, discomfort in a deeper way,” Dabbang said.
“We don’t prepare special dishes. We prepare our hearts.”
While she and thousands of others have lost everything they have ever owned, she has not lost her faith.
“Our dreams may have turned to ashes, but our prayers are still alive,” she said.
“This Ramadan my prayers are more emotional than ever. I pray for strength, not just for myself, but for my family and for every neighbor who also lost their family home. I pray for healing from the trauma of fire. I pray that Allah will replace what we lost with something better. I pray for the chance to rebuild not just our house, but our sense of security.”
Juraij Dayan Hussin, a volunteer helping the Bongao fire victims, observed that many of them were traumatized and the need to cleanse the heart and mind during Ramadan was what kept many of them going, because they are “thankful that even though they lost their property, they are still alive.”
But the religious observance related to the fasting month is not easy in a cramped shelter.
“It’s hard for Muslims to perform their prayers when they do not have their proper attire because they usually have specific clothes for prayer,” he said. “Sanitation in the area is also an issue ... when you fast and when you pray, cleanliness is essential.”
For Abdulkail Jani, who is staying at a basketball court with his brother and more than 70 other families, this Ramadan will be spent apart from their parents, whom they managed to move to relatives.
“The month of Ramadan this year is a month of trial ... there will be a huge change from how we observed Ramadan in the past, but we will adjust to it and try to comfort ourselves and our family. The most important thing is that we can perform the fasting,” he told Arab News.
“Despite our situation now, despite everything, as long as we’re alive, we will observe Ramadan. We’ll try to observe it well, without missing anything.”
