North Korea is believed to have fired a short-range missile yesterday into the Sea of Japan, Japanese news reports said, amid a standoff between the communist state and the outside world over its nuclear ambitions.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the missile was fired from the east coast of North Korea and flew about 100km until it fell into the sea.
Jiji Press said the test came at about 8am on Saturday and only consisted of one missile. According to Kyodo News, Japan was informed of the test by the US military and Cabinet members were told to prepare for an emergency.
PHOTO: AP
A Japanese foreign ministry official said only that Tokyo had "unconfirmed reports" about a missile.
A South Korean defense ministry official said Seoul had no information and a US military spokeswoman in Japan said the US forces do not discuss intelligence matters.
North Korea shocked the world in August 1998 by firing a long-range Taepodong-1 missile with a range of up to 2,000km over Japan into the Pacific Ocean, claiming it was a satellite launch.
Short-range missile launches have been more routine, but have often been timed to send signals. North Korea's last high-profile launches were in March 2003, when it lobbed two short-range missiles into the Sea of Japan, coinciding with the inauguration of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun.
Japanese and US media have reported that North Korea is preparing an underground nuclear test, with Kyodo News saying it could come as early as June.
North Korea has in recent months sent out a series of defiant statements to the world including one in March saying it would no longer be bound by a moratorium on testing long-range missiles.
North Korea's official media on Saturday said no resolution on its nuclear ambitions would be possible under the US presidency of George W. Bush, calling him a "hooligan bereft of any personality as a human being, to say nothing of stature as president of a country."
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying