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North Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been filmed with a limp as he attended commemorations marking the 20th anniversary of his grandfather Kim-Il-sung’s death, have aired on state TV.
The rare footage, aired by North Korea’s state TV, shows Kim Jong-Un walking into the mausoleum with a limp and bowed deeply in front of statues of his grandfather Kim Il-sung and his father Kim Jong-il.
Kim Jong-un has been filmed with a limp as he attended commemorations marking the 20th anniversary of his grandfather Kim-Il-sung’s death
After that, Kim Jong-un looked around an exhibition hall where the belongings of the late leaders are on display.
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Two suspected short-range missiles have been launched by North Korea, South Korea says, in the fourth such test in two weeks.
The projectiles were fired from a western province into waters east of the Korean peninsula in the early hours of Wednesday, officials said.
The move follows a recent visit by the Chinese president to South Korea.
Chinese leaders traditionally go to Pyongyang before Seoul, and the visit has been seen as a snub to North Korea.
North Korea has fired two suspected short-range missiles into the sea
“North Korea fired two short-range missiles presumed to be Scud-type ones… from a site in Hwanghae province in a north-easterly direction,” South Korean spokesman Um Hyo-sik was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
“They flew some 500km [310 miles] and landed in international waters,” he added, without giving further details.
North Korea has carried out several such launches in recent months, including four within the last two weeks.
It has interspersed these launches with apparently conciliatory moves towards the South, including a recent offer to suspend provocative military activities and cross-border slander.
Previous similar offers have come to nothing and South Korea has dismissed this latest offer.
The latest launch also comes days after Chinese President Xi Jinping and his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-hye reaffirmed their opposition to North Korean nuclear tests during talks in Seoul.
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For the first time in nearly a decade, North Korea will send cheerleaders to South Korea for the Asian Games, state news agency KCNA reports.
The cheerleaders will accompany athletes taking part in the Asian Games in September at the South Korean city of Incheon.
The cheerleaders and athletes are being sent to “improve relationships” between the North and South, according to a statement reported by KCNA.
For the first time in nearly a decade, North Korea will send cheerleaders to South Korea for the Asian Games
North Korea last sent cheerleaders in 2005 for the Asian Athletics Championships, also held in Incheon.
That contingent was made up of 101 cheerleaders, including Ri Sol-ju who went on to marry North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, according to Reuters news agency.
North Korea has so far sent cheerleaders to South Korea only three times since the Korean War.
The Communist country said on Monday that its decision to send cheerleaders again would “create an atmosphere” of reconciliation.
“Our sincere decision this time will melt the frozen North-South relations with the heat of national reconciliation while displaying the entire Korean people’s will of unification in and outside [of the peninsula],” said the statement.
The 2014 Asian Games, officially known as the XVII Asiad, is the largest sporting event in Asia governed by Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). The event is scheduled to take place in Incheon, South Korea from September 19 – October 4, 2014, with 439 events in 36 sports and discipline set to feature in the Games.
China’s President Xi Jinping has arrived in South Korea for a two-day visit set to focus on North Korea.
It is the first time a Chinese leader has visited Seoul before Pyongyang, and comes amid cooler China-North Korea ties.
China is North Korea’s biggest trading ally and the nation most able to wield influence over it.
However, in recent months Beijing has appeared increasingly frustrated with its unreliable neighbor.
Xi Jinping and Park Geun-hye would fully exchange views on the nuclear issue and the stalled six-party talks aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions
Last year, North Korea carried out its third nuclear test and there are reports that it could be planning a fourth.
Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun-hye are also expected to discuss growing economic ties, as the two nations work towards a free-trade agreement.
Wider strategic concerns are also in focus. Both China and South Korea are at odds with Japan over historical issues. But Seoul, like Tokyo, is a major US ally.
South East Asian nations that are, like Japan, involved in territorial disputes with Beijing are also moving closer to the US. So China will be keen to shore up ties with Seoul.
The Chinese president is said to enjoy a friendly relationship with ParkGeun-hye with whom he will hold talks.
The is the fifth summit between the two presidents since both took office. Park Geun-hye visited Beijing last year.
Xi Jinping’s visit comes a day after North Korea fired short-range rockets into the sea, the latest in a series of recent missile tests.
Ahead of the visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said that pushing for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula remained Chinese policy.
Xi Jinping and Park Geun-hye would “fully exchange views” on the nuclear issue and the stalled six-party talks aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions, he said.
A key issue for China is to maintain stability in North Korea. It fears that regime collapse could propel a flood of refugees across its border and also lead to a unified Korea allied to the US.
While the Chinese media outlets have in recent months voiced growing concern over Pyongyang’s actions, Xi Jinping is unlikely to speak out strongly.
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Japan has decided to ease some of the sanctions it has imposed on North Korea amid ongoing talks on abducted nationals, PM Shinzo Abe has announced.
Shinzo Abe gave no details of the sanctions to be lifted but said it was “just a start” on a road to “complete resolution” of the issue.
Japanese nationals were kidnapped by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s to train spies in language and culture.
North Korea says it has returned all those still alive. Japan disputes this.
The issue is highly emotive in Japan and has been a major, long-running point of contention between the two nations, which do not have diplomatic ties. Shinzo Abe has made the issue one of his key priorities.
The two sides agreed in May to reopen dialogue and have since held additional rounds of talks, the latest earlier this week in Beijing.
Megumi Yokota was kidnapped by North Korean agents on her way home from school in 1977 (photo AP)
Kyodo news agency, citing a government source, said that North Korea had agreed a member of its powerful National Defense Commission would sit on a special panel to re-examine the abduction cases.
Shinzo Abe said that an “unprecedented framework” that could “make decisions at a national level” had been set up in North Korea to lead the new investigation, and so Japan was responding.
“In accordance with the principle of action to action, we will lift part of the measures taken by Japan,” he said.
Japan has imposed its own sanctions on the North, which are separate from those imposed by the UN over its nuclear and missile tests.
These include remittance and travel bans, as well as denying North Korean ships entry into Japanese ports.
The Mangyongbong-92 ferry used to run regularly between Niigata in Japan and North Korea’s Wonsan, and was seen as a key link for the North. It is not yet clear whether a resumption of services is one of the areas being discussed.
North Korea has admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese nationals. It allowed five to return to Japan in 2002 and later released their children, but says the other eight died.
The most high-profile of the eight said to have died is Megumi Yokota, who was kidnapped by North Korean agents on her way home from school in 1977, when she was 13.
North Korea says she married a South Korean abductee and had a daughter before killing herself in 1994.
North Korea returned what it said were her remains in 2004 but DNA tests subsequently disputed that claim.
Japan also believes that several other of its nationals were abducted and wants more cases to be investigated.
It is not clear why North Korea has agreed to re-examine the issue now – and previous efforts at dialogue have ended in failure.
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According to South Korean reports, North Korea has fired two more short-range rockets into the sea, the latest in a series of recent missile tests.
The rockets were fired off the east coast and flew about 110 miles, South Korean military officials said.
The move comes as China’s President Xi Jinping prepares to visit South Korea, with whom North Korea is technically at war.
It also comes a day after Japan urged Pyongyang to stop such launches and after Seoul rejected a North Korean offer to end hostilities as insincere.
The two rockets were fired from a site near the eastern city of Wonsan at 06:50 and 08:00, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
North Korea has fired two more short-range rockets into the sea
North Korea appeared to be testing the range of the projectiles, Yonhap news agency reported, citing military officials. It also carried out similar tests on June 26 and 29.
To date North Korea has carried out three nuclear tests and is believed to be working on long-range missile development. In recent months it has also carried out a steady stream of short-range missile tests.
Talks between North Korea’s leaders and other nations on ending its nuclear ambitions have been stalled for years.
China, which is North Korea’s biggest trading ally, is the nation believed to wield the most influence over Pyongyang.
But Beijing appears increasingly frustrated with its unreliable neighbor.
The issue of North Korea – including possible plans for a fourth nuclear test – is expected to top the agenda during President Xi Jinping’s visit to Seoul, which begins on Thursday.
North Korea has also in recent weeks alternated between threatening South Korea and offering apparent concessions.
On Monday Pyongyang offered to suspend hostile military activities and slander, a move Seoul described as “nonsensical”.
North Korea has made similar offers in the past but these have invariably broken down.
North Korea is also currently engaged in talks with Japan on the issue of Japanese nationals it abducted in the 1970s and 1980s to teach language and culture to its spies.
Japan criticized Sunday’s rocket launch at the start of one-day talks in Beijing on Tuesday, at which no breakthroughs were reported.
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North Korea has announced that it will put detained US citizens Matthew Todd Miller and Jeffrey Fowle on trial, accusing them of “committing hostile acts”.
Matthew Todd Miller and Jeffrey Fowle had been investigated and would be brought before a court, the state news agency KCNA reported.
North Korea said that suspicions about the two men had been confirmed by evidence and the pair’s own statements, but gave no further details.
Another US citizen, Kenneth Bae, is currently serving a 15-year sentence.
Kenneth Bae was arrested in November 2012 and later convicted of trying to overthrow the North Korean government.
US attempts to secure Kenneth Bae’s release have so far proved unsuccessful, despite fears over his health.
Matthew Todd Miller and Jeffrey Fowle entered North Korea on tourist visas.
US citizen Jeffrey Fowle was arrested in North Korea because he left a Bible at a hotel
Jeffrey Fowle, 56, entered North Korea on April 29 and was detained in early June as he was leaving the country, according to North Korean reports.
Japanese agency Kyodo said Jeffrey Fowle was arrested because he left a Bible at a hotel.
Matthew Todd Miller was detained on April 10, KCNA reported.
The North Korean state agency said Matthew Todd Miller had torn up his tourist visa, shouting that he had “come to the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] after choosing it as a shelter”.
North Korea has in the past been accused of using arrested Americans as diplomatic bargaining chips.
The US wants Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions in return for economic and diplomatic incentives, but talks on a deal agreed in 2007 have been stalled for several years.
Last year, North Korea carried out its third nuclear test and launched a three-stage rocket that Washington called a banned test of long-range missile technology.
The US has no formal diplomatic ties with North Korea. But in the past, senior US figures including former President Bill Clinton have travelled to North Korea to ensure the release of American detainees.
Religious activity is severely restricted in North Korea and missionaries have been arrested on many previous occasions.
Kenneth Bae, the highest-profile of the currently detained Americans, was sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor in May 2013.
North Korea says Kenneth Bae used his tourism business to form groups to overthrow the government.
The US has tried on at least two occasions to arrange a visit by a senior human rights envoy, Robert King, to discuss his case, but Pyongyang has cancelled both these visits.
Detainees from other nations can be treated differently – earlier this year, Pyongyang deported Australian missionary John Short, who was detained after apparently leaving Christian pamphlets at a tourist site.
Also on Monday, North Korea proposed a suspension in hostilities and slander between the two Koreas.
The proposal comes after a volley of short-range missile launches by North Korea, and just days ahead of a visit to Seoul by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
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According to reports from South Korea, North Korea has fired two missiles into the sea from its east coast.
A defense ministry spokesman in Seoul declined to give further details, but Yonhap news agency said they were Scuds with the range of 310 miles.
The apparent test comes just days after North Korea said it successfully fired new precision-guided missiles.
North Korea has fired two missiles into the sea from its east coast (photo Kyodo)
North Korea frequently test-fires missiles to refine its military capabilities.
Reports of a new test come days before Chinese President Xi Jinping is due in South Korea to discuss North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
China is North Korea’s only major ally and provides an economic lifeline to the isolated nation.
North Korea is under UN sanctions over its weapons and nuclear program.
It has carried out nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, and is thought to have enough nuclear material for a small number of bombs.
However, analysts say North Korea does not appear to have successfully manufactured a nuclear warhead small enough to be carried by its missiles.
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North Korea has threatened “merciless” retaliation if a forthcoming Hollywood movie about killing Kim Jong-un is released, say agencies.
A North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said in state media that the movie’s release would be an “act of war”.
He did not mention the title, but a Hollywood movie called The Interview with a similar plot is due in October.
Actors James Franco and Seth Rogen star in the action-comedy film.
James Franco and Seth Rogen play a talk show host and his producer who are invited to interview Kim Jong-un, and are subsequently recruited by the CIA to assassinate the leader.
In The Interview, James Franco and Seth Rogen play a talk show host and his producer who are invited to interview Kim Jong-un
The movie’s teaser trailer, posted on Youtube, shows a lookalike actor playing Kim Jong-un, as well as fight scenes involving what appear to be North Korean tanks and helicopters, and a nuclear missile launch.
The North Korea spokesman was quoted by agencies as saying: “Making and releasing a movie on a plot to hurt our top-level leadership is the most blatant act of terrorism and war and will absolutely not be tolerated.”
He added that the “reckless US provocative insanity” of mobilizing a “gangster filmmaker” to challenge North Korea’s leadership was triggering “a gust of hatred and rage” among North Korean people and soldiers.
“If the US administration allows and defends the showing of the film, a merciless counter-measure will be taken,” the spokesman was quoted as saying.
Evidence emerged last week of North Korea further developing its missile technology. Experts identified a new anti-ship cruise missile shown in a North Korean propaganda film.
North Korea is holding three Americans in custody. The latest to be detained is said to be a tourist named Jeffrey Edward Fowle who reportedly left a Bible at a hotel.
Seth Rogen, one of the directors of The Interview, recently said he was inspired by journalists’ trips to North Korea.
He told Yahoo: “People have the hypothetical discussion about how journalists have access to the world’s most dangerous people, and they hypothetically would be in a good situation to assassinate them.”
Seth Rogen added that the movie was originally about meeting Kim Jong-il, but they had to revise the script when he died in 2011 and his son Kim Jong-un took power.
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The South Korean soldier who killed five members of his unit in Goseong has been captured after a failed suicide attempt, defense officials say.
The soldier, identified only as Im, shot himself in the side and was being sent to hospital, they said.
Sgt. Im’s capture ends a tense stand-off in a forest near his outpost by the border with North Korea.
On Saturday evening Sergeant Im shot and threw a grenade at fellow soldiers before fleeing with his rifle.
Sgt. Im’s capture ends a tense stand-off in a forest near his outpost by the border with North Korea (photo AP)
Seven others were injured in the attack but are expected to live. It is not clear what was the motive behind his attack.
The incident sparked a massive manhunt, with thousands of troops deployed to block possible escape routes, guard the border between North Korea and South Korea, and protect areas where civilians live, officials said.
Sgt. Im at one point exchanged fire with troops. One soldier was injured, reportedly from friendly fire.
He was eventually cornered on Sunday in a forest in the eastern Gangwon province. His family was brought to the area to persuade him to turn himself in.
Yonhap news agency quoted an army officer as saying that Sgt. Im was in tears as he spoke to his father and brother.
Troops were reportedly so close to Sgt. Im that they could toss him a mobile phone as well as food supplies.
Yonhap earlier quoted an official as saying Sgt. Im had “difficulties” adapting to military life. He was due to be discharged in three months.
There have been similar incidents in South Korea’s military, which operates a conscription system under which all men must serve two years. Bullying and mental health problems have been blamed for previous attacks.
South Korean soldiers are engaged in a shootout with a sergeant who shot dead five colleagues and fled his post near North Korea’s border, reports say.
The conscript soldier exchanged gunfire with troops seeking to capture him near a school in the border town of Goseong, Gangwon province, Yonhap reported.
It is not clear why the sergeant, identified only by his surname, Lim, opened fire on Saturday.
There have been similar shooting cases in the South Korean army in the past.
South Korean soldiers are engaged in a shootout with Sgt. Lim who shot dead five colleagues and fled his post near North Korea’s border
Sgt. Lim shot fellow members of his 22nd infantry division in the remote guard post and then escaped with his rifle and some ammunition, army officials said.
Seven other troops were injured in the incident, but are expected to survive.
Thousands of troops were deployed to block possible escape routes, guard the border between North Korea and South Korea, and protect areas where civilians live, officials said.
Guarding the demilitarized zone, which divides the two Koreas, is considered one of the toughest jobs for military conscripts.
Sgt Lim “threw a grenade and then opened fire” after completing his day shift, Yonhap reported.
He was armed with a semi-automatic K2 rifle, which is similar to an M16 and is one of the standard South Korean army rifles, officials said.
An officer said Sgt. Lim “was on the list of those who require special attention, as he had difficulties in adapting to the military life,” the South Korean news agency reported, adding that he had been due to be discharged in three months.
The defense ministry spokesman said the incident was “regrettable”, adding: “We truly apologize for causing concern to the nation.”
There have been similar incidents in South Korea’s military, which operates under a conscription system. Bullying and mental problems have been blamed for previous attacks.
Tens of thousands of soldiers from both North Korea and South Korea are stationed along their joint border, one of the most heavily fortified in the world.
Five South Korean soldiers have been shot dead by one of their comrades.
The 19-year-old injured five more soldiers and fled from an outpost near the border with North Korea, officials say.
The army private opened fire on fellow soldiers on Saturday evening at a post in the eastern Gangwon province.
Tens of thousands of soldiers from both North Korea and South Korea are stationed along their joint border
It is not yet clear what motivated him to kill his colleagues. A man hunt is now under way.
Tensions between North Korea and South Korea have been high, but there is no sign this was a cross-border incident.
“He shot dead five fellow soldiers, wounded five others and then fled the scene with his rifle and ammunition,” an army spokesman was quoted by news agency AFP as saying.
The shooting took place at an army unit near the border town of Goseong, according to South Korean news agency, Yonhap.
Tens of thousands of soldiers from both North Korea and South Korea are stationed along their joint border, one of the most heavily fortified in the world.
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In a propaganda film, North Korea has revealed footage of a newly developed cruise missile.
The North Korean missile is believed to be similar to the Russian KH-35 missile, which came into service in 2003.
Cruise missiles are short-range weapons guided by on-board computers, used to attack specific targets. The majority of the North’s known missiles are much larger, longer-range missiles.
North Korea is under UN sanctions over its weapons and nuclear programs.
The North Korean missile is believed to be similar to the Russian KH-35 missile
Many in the West believe Pyongyang is trying to develop a nuclear weapon.
But analysts say North Korea does not appear to have successfully manufactured a warhead small enough to be carried by its missiles.
North Korea’s suspected new cruise missile was revealed for only a split second at the end of the 50-minute propaganda film.
It appeared in between montages of soldiers shouting, tanks firing in unison and leader Kim Jong-un laughing.
From that brief glimpse, some analysts have deduced that the missile is a modified version of the KH-35 anti-ship missile.
It is unclear whether North Korea previously owned any cruise missiles.
South Korean media has already speculated that the cruise missile could pose a potential new threat to the South’s navy.
Kim Jong-un has blasted North Korea’s weather service for “incorrect” forecasts in a rare public dressing down of a government body in the reclusive nation, which suffers regular natural disasters.
The North Korean criticised the science used in observations and called for the use of modern equipment in the unusual rebuke, which came during an inspection of the Hydro-meteorological Service, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Tuesday.
“There are many incorrect forecasts as the meteorological observation has not been put on a modern and scientific basis,” Kim Jong-un said, urging the agency to “fundamentally” improve its work and equipment.
Kim Jong-un has blasted North Korea’s weather service for incorrect forecasts
Accurate forecasts are needed to protect the “lives and properties” of people from disasters caused by “abnormal climatic phenomenon”, he said.
Calling the weather service “very important work directly affecting the overall economic affairs”, Kim Jong-un also underscored the need to “modernise meteorological observation equipment at a high level”, KCNA said.
It was not clear when Kim Jong-un visited the agency, but public criticism of government officials during field trips by North Korean leaders is extremely rare.
Undated pictures released by KCNA showed Kim Jong-un giving “field guidance” inside the weather service in the capital, some of his audience standing attentively with arms by the side.
North Korea has suffered regular chronic food shortages under the ruling Kim dynasty, with the situation exacerbated by floods, droughts and mismanagement.
In May, state media reported that North Korea was hit by its worst spring drought in more than three decades, threatening thousands of acres of staple crops.
North Korea has announced it arrested a third American tourist last month for inappropriate activities.
A report on the KCNA news agency said the man had entered North Korea on April 29, but was detained as he was leaving the country.
The report said he has been questioned, but gave no more details. Japanese agency Kyodo said the tourist was held because he left a Bible at a hotel.
North Korea has announced it arrested a third American tourist last month for inappropriate activities.
If confirmed, North Korea would now be holding three US citizens.
US-Korean missionary Kenneth Bae was arrested in November 2012 and is serving 15 years of hard labour after being convicted of trying to overthrow the government.
In late April, KCNA said an American named Matthew Todd Miller had been taken into custody on April 10.
KCNA said he had torn up his tourist visa, shouting that he had “come to the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] after choosing it as a shelter”.
North Korea uses the arrested Americans as diplomatic bargaining chips.
A South Korean Baptist missionary has been sentenced to hard labor for life in North Korea after he was convicted of spying and setting up an underground church.
North Korea’s state news agency said the man, named as Kim Jong-uk, had confessed to all his crimes.
South Korean Baptist missionary Kim Jong-uk has been sentenced to hard labor for life in North Korea after he was convicted of spying and setting up an underground church (photo AP)
Pyongyang is still holding another missionary, US citizen Kenneth Bae, who received 15 years hard labor in 2013.
Religious activity is restricted in North Korea, with missionaries arrested on multiple occasions in the past.
“Mr. Kim tried to infiltrate into Pyongyang after illegally trespassing on the border for the purpose of setting up an underground church and gathering information about the internal affairs of the DPRK [North Korea] while luring its inhabitants into South Korea and spying on the DPRK,” the KCNA news agency said.
The prosecution had reportedly been seeking a death sentence for the 50-year-old missionary.
The ruling comes three months after Kim Jong-uk read aloud a public apology on North Korean TV for his “anti-state crimes”.
Kim Jong-uk was arrested after crossing into North Korea from China last October.
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North Korea has agreed to reopen an investigation into the fate of Japanese nationals it abducted decades ago, Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has said.
Shinzo Abe announced the move after days of talks between officials in Sweden.
Japan says North Korea abducted several of its citizens in the 1970s and 1980s to train spies – including learning the Japanese language and behavior.
Tokyo said it would relax some sanctions against Pyongyang once the probe had been reopened.
North Korea has agreed to reopen an investigation into the fate of Japanese nationals it abducted decades ago
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that Japan would also consider providing humanitarian aid to North Korea, depending on how the investigation progressed.
He said that once it had recommenced, Tokyo would lift restrictions on travel, allow remittances to North Korea and lift an embargo on the entry to Japanese ports of North Korea-flagged ships with humanitarian missions.
Yoshihide Suga said that such a move would not be a contravention of UN sanctions against North Korea.
Shinzo Abe told a news conference that Japan’s “mission will never end until the day comes when families of all abduction victims are able to embrace their children with their own arms”.
“We have tackled the problem with this determination and we hope that this will be the first step toward an overall solution.”
North Korea has returned five of the abductees and says the rest are dead – but Japan does not believe this.
Shinzo Abe said that as a result of his talks, the North Korean side promised to make a “comprehensive and overall investigation” into Japanese abduction victims and missing people where the “possibility of being abducted cannot be ruled out”.
“In keeping with the promise, it will set up a special commission for the investigation,” he said.
North Korea has admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese nationals. It allowed five to return to Japan in 2002 and later released their children, but says the other eight died.
Japan says that eight men and nine women are officially recognized to have been abducted, but correspondents say there could be many more victims.
The most high profile of the eight who died is Megumi Yokota, who was kidnapped by North Korean agents on her way home from school in 1977, when she was 13.
North Korea says she married a South Korean abductee and had a daughter before killing herself in 1994.
North Korea returned what it said were her remains in 2004 but DNA tests subsequently disputed that claim.
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North Korea has fired shells into disputed waters near a South Korean warship.
This happened near Yeonpyeong island, on the disputed western maritime border, Yonhap news agency said.
On Tuesday, South Korea fired warning shots at three North Korean ships that crossed the maritime border. North Korea had said it would retaliate.
North Korea and South Korea regularly conduct drills near the western sea border, which has long been a flashpoint between the two Koreas
In 2010, North Korean shelling of Yeonpyeong killed four people.
The latest incident happened after 18:00 local time on Thursday, reports citing South Korean officials said.
“The shells fell near our ship which has been on regular patrol in our territory, but it did not cause any damage to our ship,” a spokesman from South Korea’s defense ministry told the AFP.
According to local news reports, South Korean forces fired several shells into northern waters in response.
Local television network YTN reported that residents on Yeonpyeong were being evacuated to bomb shelters.
North Korea and South Korea regularly conduct drills near the western sea border, which has long been a flashpoint between the two Koreas.
The UN drew the border after the Korean War, but North Korea has never recognized it.
Since the war ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two sides remain technically at war.
In March, the two countries traded artillery fire across the border.
North Korea killed two civilians and two marines in the 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong island, which it said was in response to South Korean military exercises.
Earlier that year, a South Korean warship sank near Baengnyeong island, leaving 46 people dead. Seoul says Pyongyang torpedoed the vessel, but North Korea denies any role in the incident.
The North Korean government has apologized for the collapse of an apartment building in Pyongyang last week which is feared to have killed scores of people.
The accident in Pyongyang on Tuesday was reported on Sunday morning by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The news agency said that the collapse happened in the city’s Phyongchon district.
While it is not clear how many people died, some reports say that the “unimaginable” accident could possibly have killed more than 100 residents.
North Korea has apologized for the collapse of an apartment building in Pyongyang which is feared to have killed scores of people
The construction of the apartment block “was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner”, the news agency said.
Correspondents say that it is extremely rare for North Korea to admit negative news, and the report from the official KCNA news agency included equally rare apologies from top officials.
An “intensive” emergency rescue effort had been carried out to rescue survivors and treat the wounded, it said.
The KCNA did not provide detailed casualty figures or explain the cause of the collapse, but said it had left Pyongyang citizens “greatly shocked”.
A South Korean official, speaking to the AP news agency on condition of anonymity, said the collapsed building was a 23-story apartment complex.
Another unidentified official told Reuters that the building was thought to have held 92 households.
“Hundreds are presumed to be dead, assuming that each family has an average of four members,” he said.
It is not uncommon for residents of partially built apartment blocks in North Korea to move into them before construction officially ends, correspondents say.
A senior Pyongyang official was quoted by KCNA as saying that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un “sat up all night, feeling painful” after being told about the collapse.
It is estimated that about 2.5 million people – mostly top party members or other privileged people – live in Pyongyang.
Pyongyang’s inhabitants are known to have more regular electricity supplies and better access to food, goods and other services compared with those living elsewhere in North Korea.
North Korea is holding a live-fire drill near the disputed inter-Korean western maritime border, South Korean officials say.
It is the second time in a month that Pyongyang has carried out such exercises.
South Korea’s defense ministry said it was notified early on Tuesday that drills would take place near two islands west of the Korean peninsula.
North Korea is holding a live-fire drill near the disputed inter-Korean western maritime border
A South Korean spokesman said its military was “fully prepared”.
Firing began around 14:00, Reuters news agency quoted a military official as saying, and so far, no rounds had fallen south of the border.
That was the trigger last month for the South Koreans to return fire.
The area has long been a flashpoint between the two Koreas. The UN drew the western border after the Korean War, but North Korea has never recognized it.
A similar North Korean exercise at the end of March resulted in the two sides exchanging hundreds of rounds of artillery fire.
“The North notified us there would be live-fire drills today north of the [border] near Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands,” a defense ministry spokesman told AFP news agency.
Both islands are hotspots. In November 2010, North Korea fired shells at Yeonpyeong, killing two marines and two civilians, in what it said was a response to South Korean military exercises.
Earlier that year, a South Korean warship sank near Baengnyeong island with the loss of 46 lives.
Seoul says Pyongyang torpedoed the vessel but North Korea denies any role in the incident.
This latest move from North Korea comes as satellite images suggest Pyongyang could be preparing to carry out a nuclear test.
South Korea’s military said it had recently detected “a lot of activity” at the North’s Punggye-ri test site.
The test, if it went ahead, would be Pyongyang’s fourth, after tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.
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North Korea announced on Friday it had detained 24-year-old American tourist Miller Matthew Todd earlier in April for what it said was “a gross violation of its legal order”.
The announcement was made while President Barack Obama was visiting South Korea, one of Washington’s closest allies and still technically at war with Pyongyang.
North Korea announced it had detained 24-year-old American tourist Miller Matthew Todd earlier in April (photo AFP/Getty Images)
“A relevant organ of the DPRK put in custody American Miller Matthew Todd, 24, on April 10 for his rash behavior in the course of going through formalities for entry into the DPRK to tour it,” the country’s official KCNA news agency said, using the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Kenneth Bae, a Korean American missionary, has been held for more than a year in North Korea and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor on charges of trying to overthrow the state.
North Korea rejected an offer for Robert King, the US special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, to visit Pyongyang to discuss Kenneth Bae’s case last August and rescinded an invitation for him to visit in February.
KCNA said Miller Matthew Todd had a tourist visa for the DPRK, but tore it to pieces and shouted that he had come “to the DPRK after choosing it as a shelter”.
President Barack Obama arrived in Seoul for a visit that comes amid concern that North Korea may be planning a fourth nuclear test.
Barack Obama, who arrived from Japan on the second stop of his Asian tour, will hold talks with South Korean leader Park Geun-hye.
Their talks are set to focus on North Korea, following reports of activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.
Barack Obama is also expected to express grief over last week’s ferry disaster.
More than 300 people were killed or remain missing after the Sewol passenger ferry sank off South Korea, in a tragedy that has shocked the nation.
Most of those who died were teenagers on a school trip.
Barack Obama arrived in Seoul for a visit that comes amid concern that North Korea may be planning a fourth nuclear test (photo Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images)
Barack Obama is expected to hold talks with Park Geun-hye, visit US troops and then fly to Malaysia on Saturday.
Speaking in Japan, the US president called the North Korean problem “the most destabilizing, dangerous situation in all of the Asia-Pacific region”, and described China’s role in influencing Pyongyang as “critically important”.
Earlier this week, South Korea’s military said it had detected “a lot of activity” at the North’s nuclear test site, suggesting it was either planning a test or would pretend to stage one.
North Korea has carried out three such tests in the past, most recently in February 2013 – an incident that triggered months of severe tension on the Korean peninsula.
It also carried out tests in 2006 and 2009. All resulted in the imposition of sanctions by the UN, which bars Pyongyang from nuclear tests under resolution 1718.
A report from 38 North, the website of the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, also confirmed increased activity at the site “probably related to preparations for a detonation”, based on satellite imagery.
The document highlighted “increased movement of vehicles and materials near what are believed to be the entrances to two completed test tunnels”.
While Pyongyang has tested devices, it is not yet believed to have mastered the process of making a nuclear warhead small enough to deliver via a missile.
China is regarded as the nation with the best chance of influencing North Korea’s behavior, because of their trade ties.
“We will not allow war and chaos on China’s doorstep,” foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Thursday.
“In the meantime, we have consistently and proactively advocated dialogue and negotiation.”
Also on Barack Obama’s agenda will be Seoul’s ties with Japan. The US wants its two main Asian allies to work together to tackle North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
But rows over disputed islands and unresolved historical tensions have severely strained the Tokyo-Seoul relationship.
Last month, the US brokered a meeting between South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye and Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe in a bid to put things back on track.
In Japan, Barack Obama issued a firm statement of support over Tokyo’s dispute over a separate set of islands with China.
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North Korea has increased the activity at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit to South Korea.
South Korean military was “currently detecting a lot of activity in and around the Punggye-ri nuclear test site”, a South Korean defense ministry spokesman said.
North Korea could be planning to hold a “surprise nuclear test or just pretend to stage a nuclear test”, he said.
North Korea has increased the activity at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site ahead of President Barack Obama’s visit to South Korea
The communist country has carried out three nuclear tests in the past.
South Korea’s foreign minister warned of the dangers of another.
“If North Korea goes ahead with another nuclear test as it has publicly warned, it will be a game changer,” Yun Byung-se said.
North Korea’s most recent test was in February 2013 – an incident that triggered several months of severe tension on the Korean peninsula.
It also carried out tests in 2006 and 2009.
All of the tests – which were signposted well in advance – resulted in the imposition of UN sanctions on Pyongyang.
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London salon M&M Hair Academy has been visited by North Korean officials to question why it had used their leader Kim Jong-un’s picture in a poster offering haircuts.
The poster in M&M Hair Academy in South Ealing featured the words “Bad Hair Day?” below Kim Jong-un’s picture.
Barber Karim Nabbach said embassy officials were shown the door and the salon’s manager spoke to the police.
The Met Police said: “We have spoken to all parties involved and no offence has been disclosed.”
The salon put up the poster on April 9 and the next day two men claiming to be officials from the North Korean embassy visited the salon and demanded to meet the manager, Mo Nabbach.
M&M Hair Academy has been visited by North Korean officials to question why it had used their leader Kim Jong-un’s picture in a poster offering haircuts (photo M&M Hair Academy)
Karim Nabbach said: “We put up posters for an offer for men’s hair cuts through the month of April. Obviously in the current news there has been this story that North Korean men are only allowed one haircut.
“We didn’t realise but the North Korean embassy is a 10-minute walk from the salon. The next day we had North Korean officials pop into the salon asking to speak to the manager.
“He said <<listen this isn’t North Korea, this is England, we live in a democracy so I’m afraid you’re going to have to get out of my salon>>.”
The manager later informed the police about the visit by the North Koreans and he was told the embassy had also contacted officers.
“We haven’t had any trouble since then, if anything the poster has become a tourist attraction,” Karim Nabbach said.
Last month it was reported by Radio Free Asia that male university students in North Korea were now required to get the same haircut as Kim Jong-un’s.
South Korean President Park Geun-hye has issued an apology to the nation after three officials of the country’s intelligence agency were charged with fabricating evidence in a spying case.
President Park Geun-hye said the case had exposed “wrong practices” within the National Intelligence Service (NIS).
NIS chief Nam Jae-joon promised a “bone-crushing overhaul” of the agency.
The NIS is accused of falsifying documents, including Chinese immigration records, to prosecute a North Korean defector.
President Park Geun-hye has issued an apology to the nation after three officials of the country’s intelligence agency were charged with fabricating evidence in a spying case (photo AP)
On Monday one of the agency’s deputy heads, Suh Cheon-ho, resigned to take responsibility for the case. Three NIS officials are also facing charges in connection with the scandal.
It relates to the case of Yoo Woo-seong, a former Seoul government official who defected from North Korea in 2004.
He was charged with providing information to Pyongyang about more than 200 North Korean defectors, but subsequently acquitted.
When prosecutors appealed, they submitted Chinese immigration records on Yoo Woo-seong’s visits to the North – some of which were later found to have been forged.
“Regrettably, wrong practices of the NIS and holes in its management system have been revealed,” the South Korean president told her cabinet, according to Yonhap news agency.
“The NIS must make excruciating efforts to overhaul itself to make sure this kind of incident won’t repeat itself.”
The NIS has faced controversy in the past, including allegations that its agents took part in an online campaign to discredit the opposition candidate during the 2012 presidential election.
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