Tag: North Korea

N. Korea, Malaysia in tit-for-tat exit bans over Kim killing

by Isambard WILKINSON Agence France-Presse KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – North Korea and Malaysia Tuesday banned each other’s citizens from leaving their countries, with Kuala Lumpur saying its nationals were effectively being held “hostage” in a row over the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam. The extraordinary tit-for-tat moves came as the reclusive North faced growing international condemnation for a volley of missiles it fired into the Sea of Japan, defying stringent global sanctions aimed at halting its weapons […]

Malaysia PM says citizens ‘effectively hostages’ in N. Korea

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysian citizens are effectively being held hostage in North Korea, the prime minister said Tuesday after Pyongyang banned them from leaving the country in a row over the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam. “This abhorrent act, effectively holding our citizens hostage, is in total disregard of all international law and diplomatic norms,” Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement. © Agence France-Presse

Pyongyang bans Malaysians from leaving North Korea: KCNA

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Pyongyang is banning all Malaysian citizens from leaving North Korea, state media said Tuesday, potentially holding them hostage amid an increasingly heated diplomatic row over the killing of Kim Jong-Nam in Kuala Lumpur. “All Malaysian nationals in the DPRK will be temporarily prohibited from leaving the country until the incident that happened in Malaysia is properly solved,” the official Korea Central News Agency said, citing the foreign ministry. © Agence […]

US deploys antiballistic missile defense system to S. Korea

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States military has begun deploying an antiballistic missile defense system to South Korea, following a string of missile tests by North Korea, the US Pacific Command said Monday. The announcement came after nuclear-armed North Korea on Monday launched four missiles which it said was part of training for a strike on US bases in Japan. Three of the missiles came down provocatively close to Japan. Deployment of the […]

Trump, Abe say North Korea threat ‘entered a new stage’

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe warned Monday that the threat from North Korea had “entered a new stage,” following another defiant missile test. The two leaders spoke by telephone after North Korea fired off four ballistic missiles, in what Pyongyang provocatively called a training exercise for a strike on US bases in Japan. “Japan and the United States confirmed” the launches violated UN Security Council […]

N.Korea missile launch was training exercise for strike on US bases in Japan: KCNA

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Nuclear-armed North Korea’s launch of four missiles on Monday was a training exercise for a strike on US bases in Japan, Pyongyang’s official KCNA news agency reported Tuesday. Leader Kim Jong-Un supervised the drill and gave the order for it to start, it said. “Feasting his eyes on the trails of ballistic rockets”, he praised the Hwasong artillery unit that carried it out, KCNA reported. “The four ballistic rockets launched […]

US ‘strongly condemns’ North Korea missile launch: State Dept

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States condemned North Korea’s launch of four ballistic missiles, vowing that Washington was ready to “use the full range of capabilities at our disposal against this growing threat.”‎ “The United States strongly condemns the DPRK’s ballistic missile launches tonight, which violate UN Security Council Resolutions explicitly prohibiting North Korea’s launches using ballistic missile technology,” the State Department’s acting spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement. Toner added: “We […]

Japan says three N. Korean missiles landed in its waters

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Three of the four missiles launched by North Korea on Monday landed in Japanese-controlled waters, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. “North Korea today fired four ballistic missiles almost simultaneously and they flew some 1,000 kilometres (620 miles),” Abe said in parliament. “Three of them landed in our country’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).” © Agence France-Presse

North Korea fires missiles, three reach Japan waters

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Nuclear-armed North Korea fired an “unidentified projectile” into waters east of the peninsula early Monday, the South’s defense ministry said. The item was fired from North Pyongan province “around 7:36 am” South Korean time (2236 GMT Sunday), the ministry said in a statement adding it landed in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan. The South’s Yonhap news agency cited an unnamed ministry official as saying the […]

Malaysia to free North Korean arrested in Kim killing

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) –The only North Korean arrested over the dramatic airport assassination of Kim Jong-Nam is to be freed, Malaysia’s attorney general said Thursday. The announcement came the day after two young women appeared in court and were charged with murdering the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un with a banned nerve agent. It also came hours after Kuala Lumpur said it was abruptly ending a visa waiver program that allows […]

Malaysia: Two female suspects in Kim killing to be charged with murder

by M JEGATHESAN KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Two women arrested over the nerve agent assassination of Kim Jong-Nam are to be charged with his murder, Malaysia said Tuesday, as North Korea sent a senior diplomat to retrieve the body from the morgue. The spectacular killing of Kim Jong-Un’s half-brother with VX, a fast-acting poison developed for warfare, sparked an international probe and lurid stories of Pyongyang’s Cold War-style tradecraft. South Korea says its isolated […]