Tag: Kim Jong Un

Germany, France, Italy seek tougher EU sanctions on N. Korea

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany, Italy and France on Sunday urged tougher European Union sanctions against North Korea, after Pyongyang “reached a new dimension of provocation” with its latest nuclear test. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed during a phone call “that North Korea has trampled on international law and that the international community must therefore react with determination against this new escalation,” the chancellery said in a statement. Both leaders […]

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North Korea declares H-bomb test ‘a perfect success’

by Sebastien Berger Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said it detonated a hydrogen bomb designed for a long-range missile on Sunday and called its sixth and most powerful nuclear test a “perfect success,” sparking world condemnation and promises of tougher United States sanctions. Pyongyang residents threw their arms aloft in triumph as a jubilant television newsreader hailed the “unprecedentedly large” blast. It “marked a very significant occasion in attaining the final goal of […]

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New 4.6-magnitude quake detected in N. Korea due to ‘cave in’: China

BEIJING, China (AFP) — A second earthquake due to a “cave in” has been detected near North Korea’s nuclear test site, the China Earthquake Network Center said Sunday, minutes after a major explosion recorded by US experts indicated a sixth atomic test. The new 4.6 magnitude quake at a depth of zero kilometers could be due to a “collapse (cave in)” Chinese authorities said, without giving further details. The first “explosion” — of 6.3 magnitude […]

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N. Korea nuclear test would be ‘absolutely unacceptable’: Abe

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said a sixth nuclear test by Pyongyang would be “absolutely unacceptable,” after a 6.3-magnitude explosion in the North indicated a new detonation. “If it forcibly conducted a nuclear test, it’s absolutely unacceptable. We have to strongly protest it,” Abe said. “There is a possibility that this is not a natural quake and that North Korea conducted a nuclear test,” he said, adding that the Japanese weather […]

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North Korea ‘explosion’ points to 6th nuclear test; USGS record 6.3 magnitude tremor in test site

by Sebastien Berger Agence France Presse   SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea appeared to carry out a sixth nuclear test Sunday, with seismic monitors measuring an “explosion” of 6.3 magnitude near its main test site, sending tensions over its weapons ambitions to new heights. The apparent test came just hours after it claimed to have developed a hydrogen bomb that could be loaded into the country’s new intercontinental ballistic missile. The South’s Joint […]

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N. Korea has developed H-bomb missile warhead: state media

  by Sebastien Berger Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea has developed a hydrogen bomb which can be loaded into the country’s new intercontinental ballistic missile, the official Korean Central News Agency claimed Sunday. Questions remain over whether nuclear-armed Pyongyang has successfully miniaturised its weapons, and whether it has a working H-bomb, but KCNA said that leader Kim Jong-Un had inspected such a device at the Nuclear Weapons Institute. It was […]

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UK, Japan to hike pace of sanctions against N. Korea: May

by Kyoko Hasegawa TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Britain and Japan will step up the pace of sanctions against nuclear-armed North Korea after its “outrageous” firing of a missile over Japan, British Prime Minister Theresa May said Thursday. “We condemn North Korea in the strongest words possible for a reckless act which was a clear violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions,” May told a press briefing during an official visit to Japan. “In response to […]

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North Korea says more missiles to come as UN condemns launch (with video)

(Video courtesy AFPTV)   by Sebastien Berger Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea leader Kim Jong-Un has promised more missile flights over Japan, insisting his nuclear-armed nation’s provocative launch was a mere “curtain-raiser,” in the face of United Nations condemnation and United States warnings of severe repercussions. The Hwasong-12 intermediate-range missile that Pyongyang unleashed on Tuesday represented a major escalation in the face of tensions over its weapons programs. In recent […]

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North Korea’s Kim has third child: reports

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has fathered another child, reports said Tuesday, after his wife dropped out of the public eye for several months. First lady Ri Sol-Ju delivered the couple’s third child in February, the Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday, citing South Korean lawmakers who were briefed by the National Intelligence Service. Ri had disappeared for an extended period last year, raising speculation that she could be pregnant. News […]

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UPDATED: US says N. Korea fired three ‘short-range’ ballistic missiles

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles Saturday, the United States military said, following weeks of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. The missile launches come as tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops take part in joint military drills in the South, which Pyongyang views as a highly provocative rehearsal for an invasion of its own territory. Two of the missiles failed in flight and the third blew […]

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JUST IN: US says N. Korea fired three ‘short-range’ ballistic missiles

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States military said that North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday, with two of them failing in flight and the third blowing up “almost immediately.” A spokesman for the US Pacific Command said none of the missiles, which it said were launched near Kittaeryong, had posed a threat to either North America or the US Pacific territory of Guam. “The first and third missiles… failed […]

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N. Korea’s Kim orders more production of ICBMs: state media

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un has ordered more production of rocket engines and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) nosecones, Pyongyang state media said Wednesday. Tensions over the North’s weapons programs have mounted this year and it carried out two ICBM tests last month, overseen by Kim, that apparently brought most of the United States within range. A series of threats followed from both sides, and while the rhetoric has since […]

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