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North Korean missile explodes in air in failed launch from Seoul
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A North Korean missile fired from its capital area exploded quickly after liftoff in an obvious failed weapons launch on Wednesday, South Korea’s army mentioned, amid hypothesis that the North is making ready to launch its longest-range missile in its most vital provocation in years.
Particulars of the missile explosion weren’t instantly recognized. However the launch, the tenth of its variety this yr, exhibits North Korea is decided to press forward on its push to modernize its weapons arsenal and stress its rivals into making concessions amid dormant denuclearization talks.
The North Korean missile blew up whereas it was flying at an altitude of lower than 20 kilometers (12.4 miles), a South Korean army official mentioned requesting anonymity as a result of he wasn’t publicly licensed to talk to media on the difficulty. He mentioned the reason for the explosion wasn’t recognized.
NORTH KOREA TESTS NEW ICBM MISSILE SYSTEM IN ‘SERIOUS ESCALATION,’ US OFFICIAL SAYS
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Workers earlier mentioned that the launch was constituted of the Pyongyang area round 9:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) however gave no different particulars.
Lee Choon Geun, an honorary analysis fellow at South Korea’s Science and Expertise Coverage Institute, mentioned the missile possible exploded lower than a minute after its launch. He mentioned if the missile’s poisonous fuels fell on civilian residential areas in North Korea, they might possible trigger a significant well being affect. There was no rapid exterior report of such damages in North Korea.
On this picture supplied by the North Korean authorities, North Korean chief Kim Jong Un attends a gathering of the Employees’ Celebration of Korea in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Feb. 28, 2022.
(Korean Central Information Company/Korea Information Service through AP, File)
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command later mentioned that North Korea had fired a ballistic missile however didn’t say whether or not it was a failed launch. A command assertion mentioned the launch didn’t pose an instantaneous risk to U.S. territory and its allies however referred to as on North Korea to chorus from additional destabilizing acts.
Japanese Chief Cupboard Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno informed reporters {that a} flight of a ballistic missile has not been confirmed and that Tokyo is working with Washington and Seoul to additional analyze what occurred.
Specialists say previous failures have moved North Korea nearer to its purpose of buying a viable nuclear arsenal that would threaten the American homeland. Of eight “Musudan” intermediate-range missiles assessments in 2016, solely a type of launches was seen by exterior analysts as profitable, which led to debates of whether or not North Korea’s path towards ICBMs had been reduce off.
IMAGES ALLEGEDLY SHOW CONSTRUCTION AT NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR FACILITY THOUGHT TO BE DESTROYED
Nonetheless, the North in 2017 flew extra highly effective intermediate-range missiles over Japan and performed three profitable test-flights of ICBMs that demonstrated a possible vary to strike deep into the U.S. mainland.
North Korea’s profitable satellite tv for pc launches in 2012 and 2016 — which have been considered by the U.N. as disguised assessments of its long-range missile know-how — additionally adopted repeated failures.
The U.S. and South Korean militaries mentioned final week that North Korea had examined an ICBM system in two latest launches, referring to the developmental Hwasong-17 missile, the North’s largest weapon, which it unveiled throughout a army parade in October 2020.
Individuals watch a TV display displaying a information program reporting about North Korea’s missile with file footage, at a prepare station in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, March 16, 2022.
(AP Photograph/Lee Jin-man)
Within the two latest launches on Feb. 27 and March 5, the North Korean missiles flew medium-range distances, and consultants have mentioned North Korea possible examined the primary stage rocket of the Hwasong-17 missile. It wasn’t clear if Wednesday’s launch additionally concerned elements of the Hwasong-17.
After its two earlier launches, North Korea mentioned it had examined cameras and different programs for a spy satellite tv for pc and launched what it mentioned have been pictures taken from house throughout one of many two assessments, nevertheless it didn’t verify what rocket or missile it launched.
Observers say North Korea goals to spice up its ICBM functionality whereas making an attempt to put its first functioning spy satellite tv for pc into orbit. North Korean chief Kim Jong Un has vowed to accumulate an improved ICBM and a spy satellite tv for pc amongst an array of subtle weapons programs he says his nation wants to deal with what he calls American hostility.
BIDEN ADMIN CONDEMNS NORTH KOREA MISSILE LAUNCH, SEEKS ‘SERIOUS AND SUSTAINED DIPLOMACY’ WITH DPRK
Earlier Wednesday, North Korea’s state information company launched pictures of a smiling Kim, clad in an extended black leather-based coat, visiting a towering condominium complicated beneath building on the outskirts of Pyongyang. The information company didn’t say when Kim was there, nevertheless it sometimes experiences on his public actions one or two days after they happen.
The Hwasong-17 might probably fly as much as 15,000 kilometers (9,320 miles), far sufficient to strike wherever within the U.S. and past. The 25-meter (82-foot) missile, which was proven once more at a protection exhibition in Pyongyang final yr, has but to be test-launched.
The three ICBMs that North Korea examined in 2017 have been the Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15. Some analysts say growing a bigger missile might imply the nation is making an attempt to arm its long-range weapons with a number of warheads to beat missile protection programs.
A U.S. Air Pressure U-2 spy aircraft prepares to land on the Osan U.S. Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Wednesday, March 16, 2022.
(Hong Ki-won/Yonhap through AP)
If North Korea makes a brand new ICBM launch, it might be its highest-profile weapons assessments since its third and final ICBM launch in November 2017.
North Korea might name its potential new ICBM take a look at a rocket launch to put a reconnaissance satellite tv for pc in house, not a weapons take a look at. That might invite condemnation however possible no contemporary U.N. sanctions, some analysts say, since Russia and China wield vetoes on the Safety Council and would oppose it.
Different North Korean missiles examined this yr have been largely shorter-range, nuclear-capable weapons which place South Korea and Japan, each key U.S. allies, inside hanging distance. In January alone, North Korea carried out seven rounds of missile assessments, a file variety of month-to-month assessments since Kim took energy in late 2011.
U.S.-led diplomacy aimed toward persuading North Korea to desert its nuclear program collapsed in 2019 on account of wrangling over U.S.-led sanctions on the North. Washington has urged North Korea to return to talks with none preconditions, however Pyongyang has rejected such overtures saying america should first withdraw its hostile insurance policies.
In January, North Korea hinted at lifting its four-year moratorium on ICBM and nuclear assessments. South Korea’s Protection Ministry mentioned Friday it detected indicators that North Korea possible is restoring a few of the tunnels at its nuclear testing web site that it detonated forward of the now-dormant nuclear diplomacy.
Barely a week ago, Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square, waving placards thanking President Trump and his Middle East envoy for their role in helping secure an initial cease-fire deal in Gaza and getting some hostages freed.
Many of them were hoping that Mr. Trump would strong-arm Israel’s long-hesitant prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, into agreeing to negotiate an end to the war with Hamas and get the rest of the hostages released when the two leaders met in Washington on Tuesday.
Instead, they woke up to news of Mr. Trump’s fantastical idea of removing the population of roughly two million Gazans from the devastated enclave to make way for a glittering, American-owned Middle Eastern Riviera.
Far-fetched as Mr. Trump’s vision for Gaza may be — the Arab world has roundly rejected it and any forcible removal of a population violates international law — it abruptly shifted attention away from the future of the cease-fire deal, whose initial, six-week phase is due to end in early March.
As Mr. Trump sketched out his grandiose plans for Gaza, he placed little public pressure on Mr. Netanyahu to proceed with talks via Qatari and Egyptian mediators to turn the temporary cease-fire into a permanent cessation of hostilities. That left Israel with a wide berth on how it might deal with Gaza next.
The talks, which were meant to start this week, are now up in the air. And Mr. Netanyahu will leave Washington with Mr. Trump’s endorsement of what far-right members of the Israeli government have effectively been calling for: the mass migration of Palestinians from Gaza.
That leaves the fate of the hostages still held by Hamas in question as the militant group assesses how to move forward and many Palestinians worrying about whether the war might resume again.
“On the one hand, we are very grateful for what Trump has been doing,” said Idit Ohel, whose son, Alon Ohel, 23, was kidnapped from a bomb shelter as he tried to flee a music festival during the Hamas-led assault of Oct. 7, 2023, which started the war.
“Now,” Ms. Ohel said of Mr. Trump, “I don’t understand the implications of what he is saying or how this is going to bring my son home.”
Mr. Netanyahu, in an interview with Fox News late Wednesday, hailed Mr. Trump’s idea as “remarkable,” saying it should be “pursued,” drowning out any talk of the details of how to move cease-fire negotiations forward.
And on Thursday morning, Mr. Netanyahu’s loyal defense minister, Israel Katz, issued a statement saying he had instructed the Israeli military to prepare a plan to facilitate the exit of “any resident of Gaza who is interested to leave to any place in the world that agrees to accept them.”
The initial phase of the cease-fire deal took effect on Jan. 19 and provides for Hamas to release 33 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. About 79 hostages remain in Gaza, at least 35 of whom are presumed to be dead.
Talks were due to start on Monday — Day 16 of the deal — on a second phase, which is supposed to result in the rest of the living hostages being released and to usher in a permanent cessation of hostilities. That would mean a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
Wording about the transition to the second phase had been left intentionally vague, since Israel and Hamas are holding out for mutually exclusive demands.
Mr. Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas no longer holds sway in Gaza and to resume fighting, if necessary. Hamas refuses to give up control or disarm.
In repeated statements in Washington, Mr. Netanyahu laid out his three priorities for Gaza, with the hostages only coming in second.
“In Gaza, Israel has three goals: Destroy Hamas’s military and governing capabilities, secure the release of all our hostages and ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel,” he said.
Mr. Netanyahu could stand to lose his own grip on power, with the far-right flank of his governing coalition having threatened to quit if he ends the war in Gaza with Hamas still in control there.
As of Thursday, no Israeli delegation had yet set out to Doha, Qatar, for negotiations, according to two Israeli officials who were not authorized to discuss the sensitive issue publicly.
Mr. Trump also sounded less committal than he has in the past about the fate of the hostages and ending the war, saying it was unclear if the cease-fire would hold. But he spoke of “going to a Phase II” of the cease-fire and said he would like to get all the hostages out. “If we don’t, it will just make us somewhat more violent,” he said, possibly indicating U.S. backing for a resumption of the fighting.
In the Middle East, analysts were parsing what Mr. Trump’s tectonic diversion on the future of Gaza might mean in the more immediate term.
“I think what he did was throw the old checkers board off the table and replaced it with Monopoly,” said Kobi Michael, an expert in the Israel-Palestinian conflict at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. “He didn’t just change the rules of the game but the game itself,” he said.
Both Israel and Hamas are likely to want to buy time — Hamas to rehabilitate itself and its forces after 15 grueling months of war and Mr. Netanyahu to keep his right-wing coalition together — and may try to extend the first phase of the deal, allowing for more hostage-for-prisoner exchanges.
Mr. Michael said Mr. Trump’s vision for a Gaza without Gazans could work as a threat and put significant pressure on Hamas to release more hostages. Conversely, he said, it could cause Hamas to walk away from the deal altogether.
“Mr. Trump is a businessman,” Mr. Michael said. “He takes risks.”
Zakaria al-Qaq, a Palestinian expert in national security, said that even the mere suggestion of relocating two million Gazans was likely to complicate the cease-fire negotiations by making Hamas more cautious, and to destabilize the entire Arab world.
Mr. Trump’s declaration, he said, was “The perfect recipe for recruiting more people to Hamas,” adding that Mr. Trump’s “new colonialism” had given Hamas “easy marketing tools.”
Many people believe Mr. Trump’s vision for Gaza is not feasible, but regardless of the reality, Mr. Netanyahu has come out with no sign of being pressured by Mr. Trump, or of any daylight between them. His government is intact, for now.
An Israeli official who briefed Israeli political reporters in Washington after the Netanyahu-Trump meeting said it was now clear to Mr. Netanyahu’s coalition partners that bringing down his right-wing government with Mr. Trump as president would be irresponsible and foil “historic” opportunities in the coming years.
Relatives of the hostages warn that they do not have time.
“I live in daily fear,” said Alon Nimrodi, the father of Tamir Nimrodi, an Israeli soldier who is slated to be released only under a second phase of the deal.
Mr. Trump’s vision for Gaza was not a bad one, Mr. Nimrodi said. “But this is not the time to talk about it,” he said. Plans for Gaza should wait till “after the hostages are out,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave President Donald Trump an unusual gift during his most recent trip to Washington, D.C., this week — a gold-plated pager.
The present was a nod to the controversial mass attack believed to have been carried out by Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency against Hezbollah Sept. 17, 2024, in which thousands of pagers, walkie-talkie-like devices and radios simultaneously exploded across Lebanon and Syria around 3:30 p.m.
A statement from Netanyahu’s office to Fox News Digital said, “The pager symbolizes the prime minister’s decision that led to a turning point in the war and marked the beginning of Hezbollah’s strategic collapse.
ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER ORDERS IDF TO PLAN FOR GAZANS TO LEAVE IN LINE WITH TRUMP’S CONTROVERSIAL PROPOSAL
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave President Donald Trump a gold-plated pager during a visit to the White House Feb. 6, 2024. (Israeli Government Press Office)
“This strategic operation reflects Israel’s strength, technological superiority and tactical ingenuity in confronting its adversaries.”
An image obtained by Fox News Digital showed the pager mounted to a wooden plaque with a message on the device that said, “Press with both hands,” accompanied by a double downward arrow sign, the same message that reportedly showed moments before the devices detonated.
The plaque also came with a message to Trump calling him Israel’s “greatest friend and ally.”
The statement appears to be the first time Netanyahu’s office has publicly commented on the strike against the terrorist network in the summer.
Though the attacks were intended to target Hezbollah terrorists, the explosions also injured, maimed and killed civilians, including at least two children. In total, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported that 32 people were killed and 3,250 others were injured.
ALLIES AND FOES REJECT TRUMP’S ‘RIVIERA’ PLANS FOR GAZA: ‘NEW SUFFERING AND NEW HATRED’
A symbolic portrait of a young Lebanese girl who was killed in a deadly pager attack is pictured next to flowers placed in front of the Lebanese embassy in northern Tehran, Iran, Sept. 18, 2024. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
U.N. Human Rights experts condemned the operation and said the indiscriminate nature of the attacks amounted to “war crimes.”
“These attacks violate the human right to life, absent any indication that the victims posed an imminent lethal threat to anyone else at the time,” one expert told the OHCHR. “Such attacks require prompt, independent investigation to establish the truth and enable accountability for the crime of murder.”
Despite the limited number of terrorists killed in the widespread attacks, Israeli officials have championed the operation as a successful psychological blow to Hezbollah.
TRUMP’S GAZA ‘TAKEOVER’ RANKLES AMERICA FIRST CONSERVATIVES, ALLIES SUGGEST NEGOTIATOR-IN-CHIEF IS AT WORK
Though Israel was immediately suspected of being involved in the reported years-in-the-making operation, Jerusalem had not officially confirmed its role publicly before.
However, by November 2024, Israeli reports revealed comments leaked from a Cabinet meeting in which Netanyahu was quoted as saying, “The pager operation and the elimination of [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah were carried out despite the opposition of senior officials in the defense establishment and those responsible for them in the political echelon.”
President Donald Trump hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 4, 2025. (Avi Ohayon (GPO)/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The prime minister’s comments were an apparent dig at former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who he fired just weeks prior to the comments over disagreements regarding the war effort against Hamas and Hezbollah.
Neither the White House nor the U.N. immediately responded to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
Yael Rotem-Kuriel contributed to this report.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told Euronews, in an exclusive interview, that Brussels needs to be more flexible in EU membership talks.
In his first interview after the South Caucasus country hit pause on its EU accession talks, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told Euronews that the ball was in Brussels’ court, and that the bloc needed to be more flexible in its approach to new members.
Kobakhidze said Georgia was facing “some significant challenges with the European bureaucracy” but emphasised that he was still “very optimistic” that his country would obtain EU membership by 2030.
“(We) will be consistent in following this goal and then hopeful that the approach to Georgia will be more fair in the next coming years,” he told Euronews.
In November, Kobakhidze announced that Georgia would pause discussions on its bid to join the EU until 2028 due to what the prime minister described then as “blackmail and manipulation” from some of the bloc’s politicians.
The EU gave Georgia candidate status in December 2023, but halted its membership application process indefinitely and cut financial support last June after the passage of a “foreign influence” law that the bloc considers to be Russian-inspired and authoritarian.
Kobakhidze told Euronews that Tbilisi’s policies were not to blame for the fact that there are currently not “healthy relations” between Georgia and the EU.
“It’s because of the European bureaucracy and the policies towards Georgia,” he said. “So, if that policy changes, everything will be in a better shape.”
Kobakhidze was reappointed in November as prime minister by the ruling Georgian Dream party, whose disputed victory in October’s parliamentary election has sparked massive demonstrations and led to an opposition boycott of parliament.
Opposition forces — including Georgia’s former president Salome Zourabichvili — have condemned the results as a “total falsification” of the vote. The European Parliament in November adopted a resolution condemning the vote and calling for new elections to be held under international supervision.
The ruling party, which has been in power since 2012, has denied any wrongdoing.
Realism with Russia relations
Meanwhile, protesters and critics have accused Georgian Dream — established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia and is widely considered to be the country’s de facto leader — of turning away from the West and towards Moscow.
Kobakhidze told Euronews that Georgia had “no space for restoring diplomatic relations (with Russia) because of the occupation of our two historic regions”.
Moscow recognised the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states in 2008 after Russian troops repelled a Georgian attempt to retake South Ossetia in a brief war. The two breakaway territories make up 20% of Georgia’s territory.
“This territorial integrity is recognised by the international community and of course we have to defend our national interests in this respect, but our vision is peaceful,” Kobakhidze said, adding that a “non-peaceful solution is absolutely impossible”.
“We would like to restore our territorial integrity — there’s no alternative — and we are hopeful at some point this will be realistic. Let’s see,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT“But we run with a pragmatic policy and that’s the key content of our policy towards Russia,” Kobakhidze added. “We are keeping trade and economic relations with Russia and that’s how we are going to run it for now.”
When asked about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the prospect of a peace agreement, Kobakhidze said there was “no alternative” to a ceasefire.
Ukraine is “suffering a lot”, the prime minister said, citing the loss of life, damage to infrastructure and Russia’s occupation of large swathes of Ukrainian territory.
“The international community should be fully concentrated on promoting this ceasefire agreement and peace,” Kobakhidze said. “That’s the key for improving the overall situation in the region and the world.”
ADVERTISEMENTWatch the entire interview on Euronews’ The Europe Conversation this week.
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