SEOUL, South Korea: North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile toward the sea on Sunday, its neighbors said, ramping up testing activities in response to US-South Korean military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.
The missile launched from the North’s northwestern region flew across the country before it landed in the waters off its east coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
It said South Korea’s military has boosted its surveillance posture and maintains a readiness in close coordination with the United States.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said a suspected North Korean missile was launched on Sunday morning. It said the suspected weapon landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. There were no immediate reports of damage in the area.
The launch was the North’s third round of weapons tests since the US and South Korean militaries began their joint military drills last Monday.
The latest US-South Korean drills, which include computer simulations and field exercises, are to continue until Thursday. The field exercises are the biggest of their kind since 2018.
The North views such US-South Korean military drills as a practice to launch an invasion, though Washington and Seoul have steadfastly said their training is defensive in nature.
The weapons North Korea recently tested include its longest-range Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile designed to strike the US mainland. The North’s state media quoted leader Kim Jong Un as saying the ICBM launch was meant to “strike fear into the enemies.”
A day before the start of the drills, North Korea also fired cruise missiles from a submarine. The North’s state media said the submarine-launched missile was a demonstration of its resolve to respond with “overwhelming powerful” force to the intensifying military maneuvers by “the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces.”
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North Korea launches missile into sea amid US-South Korea drills
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North Korea launches missile into sea amid US-South Korea drills
- Missile launched from the North’s northwestern region before it landed in the waters off its east coast
- Japan said suspected North Korean weapon landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone
France probes ‘foreign interference’ after malware found on ferry
PARIS: France is probing possible foreign interference after a Latvian national was arrested and charged over the discovery on a passenger ferry of malware capable of allowing the vessel’s operating systems to be be controlled remotely, the interior minister said Wednesday.
The malware was found on the passenger ferry the Fantastic with a capacity of over 2,000 passengers, belonging to Italian shipping company GNV while it was docked in France’s Mediterranean port of Sete, Paris prosecutors said.
Italian authorities had warned France that the operating system of the vessel could have been infected by a malware known as a Remote access Trojan (RAT) which allows a hacker to gain remote control of a system.
Two crew members, a Latvian and a Bulgarian, whose identities had been signalled to France by the Italian authorities, were detained last week. The Bulgarian was freed but the Latvian charged and placed under arrest in the investigation.
The office of the Paris prosecutor said late Tuesday it had opened an investigation into a suspected bid “by an organized group to attack an automated data-processing system, with the aim of serving the interests of a foreign power.”
- Security warnings about Russia -
France and other European governments have warned that Russia is stepping up a campaign of interference more than three and a half years into its war against Ukraine.
“This is a very serious matter... individuals tried to hack into a ship’s data-processing system,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told France Info radio early Wednesday.
“Investigators are obviously looking into interference. Yes, foreign interference,” he said.
Nunez refused to be drawn over whether the attack was aimed at diverting the ship from its route and did not name Russia.
But he said: “These days one country is very often behind foreign interference.”
In a sign of the gravity of the case, the investigation is being led by France’s domestic intelligence service, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI).
After being cordoned off in port, the Fantastic was subjected to an emergency inspection by the DGSI, which led to the seizure of several items.
The vessel was subsequently cleared to sail again after receiving approval from maritime authorities, after technical checks were completed and any danger to those on board ruled out.
Emergency searches were also conducted in Latvia with the support of Eurojust, the European Union’s judicial cooperation arm, and the Latvian authorities.
The Latvian national’s lawyer Thibault Bailly said he believed the “theory of Russian interference evoked in the press seems superfluous.”
“The investigation will shed light on several aspects of this case that are still unclear. In particular, it will demonstrate that this case is not as worrying as it may have initially seemed,” he added.
The malware was found on the passenger ferry the Fantastic with a capacity of over 2,000 passengers, belonging to Italian shipping company GNV while it was docked in France’s Mediterranean port of Sete, Paris prosecutors said.
Italian authorities had warned France that the operating system of the vessel could have been infected by a malware known as a Remote access Trojan (RAT) which allows a hacker to gain remote control of a system.
Two crew members, a Latvian and a Bulgarian, whose identities had been signalled to France by the Italian authorities, were detained last week. The Bulgarian was freed but the Latvian charged and placed under arrest in the investigation.
The office of the Paris prosecutor said late Tuesday it had opened an investigation into a suspected bid “by an organized group to attack an automated data-processing system, with the aim of serving the interests of a foreign power.”
- Security warnings about Russia -
France and other European governments have warned that Russia is stepping up a campaign of interference more than three and a half years into its war against Ukraine.
“This is a very serious matter... individuals tried to hack into a ship’s data-processing system,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told France Info radio early Wednesday.
“Investigators are obviously looking into interference. Yes, foreign interference,” he said.
Nunez refused to be drawn over whether the attack was aimed at diverting the ship from its route and did not name Russia.
But he said: “These days one country is very often behind foreign interference.”
In a sign of the gravity of the case, the investigation is being led by France’s domestic intelligence service, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI).
After being cordoned off in port, the Fantastic was subjected to an emergency inspection by the DGSI, which led to the seizure of several items.
The vessel was subsequently cleared to sail again after receiving approval from maritime authorities, after technical checks were completed and any danger to those on board ruled out.
Emergency searches were also conducted in Latvia with the support of Eurojust, the European Union’s judicial cooperation arm, and the Latvian authorities.
The Latvian national’s lawyer Thibault Bailly said he believed the “theory of Russian interference evoked in the press seems superfluous.”
“The investigation will shed light on several aspects of this case that are still unclear. In particular, it will demonstrate that this case is not as worrying as it may have initially seemed,” he added.
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