SEOUL: North Korea fired three ballistic missiles off its east coast Monday, Seoul said, in a new show of force that comes as top world leaders meet at the G20 summit in China.
The missiles were fired into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) from the North’s Hwangju county at around 0300 GMT, a defense ministry spokesman said, more sabre-rattling that follows a submarine-launched ballistic missile test some two weeks ago.
“They are speculated to be Rodong missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) and were fired without navigational warning to Japan,” the spokesman said in a statement.
“North Korea’s ballistic missile launch is a direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions aimed at showing off its nuclear and missile capabilities during the G20 summit,” he added.
Monday’s missile launch came hours after South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sideline of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou.
China is the North’s sole major ally and economic lifeline but ties have been strained recently over the Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests that raised tension on the peninsula.
North Korea has staged a string of missile tests this year, with the most recent August 24 submarine-launched ballistic missile flying 500 kilometers (around 300 miles) toward Japan — a range that far exceeded that of the North’s previous sub-launched missile tests.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un described the August test as the “greatest success” and said it put the US mainland within striking range.
The launch was widely-condemned by the US and other major powers, but did mark what weapons analysts said was a clear step forward for North Korea’s nuclear strike ambitions.
A proven submarine-launched ballistic missile system would allow deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a “second-strike” capability in the event of an attack on the North’s military bases.
N. Korea fires three ballistic missiles off east coast: Seoul
N. Korea fires three ballistic missiles off east coast: Seoul
In Ethiopia, Tigrayans fear return to ‘full-scale war’
- Flights have been suspended into Tigray since Thursday and local authorities reported drone strikes on goods lorries
- The international community fears the fighting could turn into an international conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea
ADDIS ABABA: Tigrayans in northern Ethiopia fear a return to all-out war amid reports that clashes were continuing between local and federal forces on Monday, barely three years after the last devastating conflict in the region.
The civil war of 2020-2022 between the Ethiopian government and Tigray forces killed more than 600,000 people and a peace deal known as the Pretoria Agreement has never fully resolved the tensions.
Fighting broke out again last week in a disputed area of western Tigray called Tselemt and the Afar region to the east of Tigray.
Abel, 38, a teacher in Tigray’s second city Adigrat, said he still hadn’t recovered from the trauma of the last war and had now “entered into another round of high anxiety.”
“If war breaks out now... it could lead to an endless conflict that can even be dangerous to the larger east African region,” added Abel, whose name has been changed along with other interviewees to protect their identity.
Flights have been suspended into Tigray since Thursday and local authorities reported drone strikes on goods lorries on Saturday that killed at least one driver.
In Afar, a humanitarian worker, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said there had been air strikes on Tigrayan forces and that clashes were ongoing on Monday, with tens of thousands of people displaced.
AFP could not independently verify the claims and the government has yet to give any comment on the clashes.
In the regional capital Mekele, Nahom, 35, said many people were booking bus tickets this weekend to leave, fearing that land transport would also be restricted soon.
“My greatest fear is the latest clashes turning into full-scale war and complete siege like what happened before,” he told AFP by phone, adding that he, too, would leave if he could afford it.
Gebremedhin, a 40-year-old civil servant in the city of Axum, said banks had stopped distributing cash and there were shortages in grocery stores.
“This isn’t only a problem of lack of supplies but also hoarding by traders who fear return of conflict and siege,” he said.
The region was placed under a strict lockdown during the last war, with flights suspended, and banking and communications cut off.
The international community fears the fighting could turn into an international conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea, whose relations have been increasingly tense in recent months.
The Ethiopian government accuses the Tigrayan authorities and Eritrea of forging closer ties.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply concerned about... the risk of a return to a wider conflict in a region still working to rebuild and recover,” his spokesman said.
The EU said that an “immediate de-escalation is imperative to prevent a renewed conflict.”
