SEOUL: North Korea fired what appeared to be two ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, Tokyo said.
South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff also said it had detected a “projectile” being fired toward what Seoul calls the East Sea.
Japan’s coast guard, citing the defense ministry, said it had detected two ballistic missiles and that both were estimated to have already splashed down.
Japanese news agency Jiji Press reported the two missiles had landed outside of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone, citing defense ministry sources.
The test is Pyongyang’s second of the month, following a salvo of missiles fired hours before South Korea’s leader headed to China for a summit.
It comes a day after a high-level visit to Seoul by the Pentagon’s number three official Elbridge Colby, who hailed South Korea as a “model ally.”
North Korea has stepped up missile testing significantly in recent years.
Analysts say this drive is aimed at improving precision strike capabilities, challenging the United States as well as South Korea, and testing weapons before potentially exporting them to Russia.
Pyongyang is also set to hold a landmark congress of its ruling party in the coming weeks, its first in five years.
Ahead of that conclave, leader Kim Jong Un ordered the “expansion” and modernization of the country’s missile production.
North Korea fires ballistic missiles toward Sea of Japan
https://arab.news/c9g93
North Korea fires ballistic missiles toward Sea of Japan
- South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff also said it had detected a “projectile” being fired toward what Seoul calls the East Sea
Trump says he asked Putin not to target Kyiv for 1 week during brutal cold spell
- “I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week during this ... extraordinary cold,” Trump said
- Zelensky, for his part, thanked Trump for his effort and welcomed the “possibility” of a pause
KYIV: US President Donald Trump said Thursday that President Vladimir Putin has agreed not to target the Ukrainian capital and other towns for one week as the region experiences frigid temperatures.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Kremlin that Putin has agreed to such a pause.
Russia has been pounding Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, hoping to wear down public resistance to the war while leaving many around the country having to endure the dead of winter without heat.
“I personally asked President Putin not to fire on Kyiv and the cities and towns for a week during this ... extraordinary cold,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, adding that Putin has “agreed to that.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked earlier Thursday whether a mutual halt on strikes on energy facilities was being discussed between Russia and Ukraine, and he refused to comment on the issue.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky late Wednesday had warned that Moscow was planning another large-scale barrage despite plans for further US-brokered peace talks at the weekend.
Trump said he was pleased that Putin has agreed to the pause. Kyiv, which has grappled with severe power shortages this winter, is forecast to enter a brutally cold stretch starting Friday that is expected to last into next week. Temperatures in some areas will drop to minus 30 degrees Celsius (minus 22 Fahrenheit), the State Emergency Service warned.
“A lot of people said, ‘Don’t waste the call. You’re not going to get that.’” the Republican US president said of his request of Putin. “And he did it. And we’re very happy that they did it.”
Zelensky, for his part, thanked Trump for his effort and welcomed the “possibility” of a pause in Russian military action on Kyiv and beyond. “Power supply is a foundation of life,” Zelensky said in his social media post.
Trump did not say when the call with Putin took place or when the ceasefire would go into effect. The White House did not immediately respond to a query seeking clarity about the scope and timing of the limited pause in the nearly four-year war.
Russia has sought to deny Ukrainian civilians heat and running water over the course of the war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. Ukrainian officials describe the strategy as “weaponizing winter.”
Last year was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since 2022 as Russia intensified its aerial barrages behind the front line, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country.
The war killed 2,514 civilians and injured 12,142 in Ukraine — 31 percent higher than in 2024, it said.
