SEOUL: North Korea fired “multiple unidentified ballistic missiles” on Monday, South Korea’s military said, the same day Seoul and Washington began a major annual joint military drill known as Freedom Shield.
“Our military has detected at around 13:50 (0450 GMT) multiple unidentified ballistic missiles fired from Hwanghae province into the West Sea,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Yellow Sea.
“Our military will bolster surveillance and maintain a full readiness posture under close cooperation with the United States,” the JCS added.
The United States stations tens of thousands of US soldiers in South Korea, and the allies regularly stage joint drills, which they describe as defensive in nature.
But such exercises infurate Pyongyang, which regards them as rehearsals for invasion and routinely responds with weapons tests of its own.
Earlier Monday, the nuclear-armed North slammed the drills as a “provocative act,” warning of the danger of sparking war with “an accidental single shot.”
“This is a dangerous provocative act of leading the acute situation on the Korean peninsula, which may spark off a physical conflict between the two sides by means of an accidental single shot,” said Pyongyang’s foreign ministry, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
The joint US-South Korea “Freedom Shield 2025” exercise kicked off on Monday, and will involve “live, virtual, and field-based training,” according to a US statement.
The exercise will run until March 20, the statement said.
The latest exercise comes after two South Korean Air Force fighter jets accidentally dropped eight bombs on a village during a joint training exercise with US forces on March 6.
Some 31 people, including civilians and military personnel, were wounded in that incident, South Korea’s military said.
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions.
The two Koreas remain technically at war since their 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
The large-scale Freedom Shield exercises are one of the allies’ biggest annual joint exercises.
In its statement on Monday, North Korea’s foreign ministry dubbed the exercises “an aggressive and confrontational war rehearsal.”
Last week, Pyongyang slammed the United States for “political and military provocations” over the visit of a US Navy aircraft carrier to the South Korean port of Busan.
North Korea fires missiles as South begins drills with US
https://arab.news/6aw9c
North Korea fires missiles as South begins drills with US
- The United States stations tens of thousands of US soldiers in South Korea
- The allies regularly stage joint drills, which they describe as defensive in nature
Prabowo, Trump expected to sign Indonesia-US tariff deal in January 2026
- Deal will mean US tariffs on Indonesian products are cut from a threatened 32 percent to 19 percent
- Jakarta committed to scrap tariffs on more than 99 percent of US goods
JAKARTA: Indonesia expects to sign a tariff deal with the US in early 2026 after reaching an agreement on “all substantive issues,” Jakarta's chief negotiator said on Tuesday.
Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto met with US trade representative Jamieson Greer in Washington this week to finalize an Indonesia-US trade deal, following a series of discussions that took place after the two countries agreed on a framework for negotiations in July.
“All substantive issues laid out in the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade have been agreed upon by the two sides, including both the main and technical issues,” Hartarto said in an online briefing.
Officials from both countries are now working to set up a meeting between Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and US President Donald Trump.
It will take place after Indonesian and US technical teams meet in the second week of January for a legal scrubbing, or a final clean-up of an agreement text.
“We are expecting that the upcoming technical process will wrap up in time as scheduled, so that at the end of January 2026 President Prabowo and President Trump can sign the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade,” Hartarto said.
Indonesian trade negotiators have been in “intensive” talks with their Washington counterparts since Trump threatened to levy a 32 percent duty on Indonesian exports.
Under the July framework, US tariffs on Indonesian imports were lowered to 19 percent, with Jakarta committing to measures to balance trade with Washington, including removing tariffs on more than 99 percent of American imports and scrapping all non-tariff barriers facing American companies.
Jakarta also pledged to import $15 billion worth of energy products and $4.5 billion worth of agricultural products such as soybeans, wheat and cotton, from the US.
“Indonesia will also get tariff exemptions on top Indonesian goods, such as palm oil, coffee, cocoa,” Hartarto said.
“This is certainly good news, especially for Indonesian industries directly impacted by the tariff policy, especially labor-intensive sectors that employ around 5 million workers.”
In the past decade, Indonesia has consistently posted trade surpluses with the US, its second-largest export market after China.
From January to October, data from the Indonesian trade ministry showed two-way trade valued at nearly $36.2 billion, with Jakarta posting a $14.9 billion surplus.
