Two North Korean naval boats briefly crossed the tense western sea border with South Korea in the first violation since a South Korean warship sank in the area following a mysterious explosion in March, the South’s military said yesterday.
A North Korean patrol boat sailed about 3km into South Korean waters on Saturday night, but quickly retreated after a South Korean navy ship broadcast warnings, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.
In less than an hour, another North Korean patrol boat intruded across the border but returned to its waters after another transmission and two warning shots from the South Korean vessel, a Joint Chiefs of Staff officer said on condition of anonymity citing department policy.
The first North Korean boat responded by radioing its own warning, accusing the South Korean vessel of violating the sea border before it sailed back to the North, the Ministry of National Defense said.
Meanwhile, Japan urged China to cut its nuclear arsenal or at least to stop stockpiling more atomic weapons, prompting a strong reaction from Beijing at their foreign ministers’ talks, officials said yesterday.
The demand came when Japanese foreign minister Katsuya Okada met his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) at talks in South Korea on Saturday, said Kazuo Kodama, the Japanese foreign ministry’s press secretary.
Okada and Yang arrived in Gyeongju on Saturday to attend the two-day foreign ministerial meeting with South Korean host Yu Myung-hwan.
The three foreign ministers discussed issues including the growing tension over the sinking of the Cheonan in March.
The Japanese minister said China was the only permanent five (P5) member of the UN Security Council that was still accumulating nuclear weapons.
“Amongst the P5, it is only China which is increasing its nuclear arsenal,” Okada told Yang during the talks.
“Therefore I would like to request the Chinese government either to reduce the number of nuclear arsenals or at least commit ourselves not to increase its nuclear arsenals from the current level,” he quoted Okada as saying.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu (馬朝旭) said yesterday that Yang had repudiated Okada’s remarks and defended Beijing’s nuclear policy.
“Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi refuted the irresponsible remarks by Japan on the spot,” Ma said.
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
North Korea yesterday fired about 10 ballistic missiles to the sea toward Japan, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over ongoing South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with Seoul, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce.” Seoul’s military detected “around 10 ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea [Sea of Japan] at around 1:20pm,” JCS said in a statement, referring to South Korea’s name for the body of water. The missiles
‘UNWAVERING FRIENDSHIP’: A representative of a Japanese group that co-organized a memorial, said he hopes Japanese never forget Taiwan’s kindness President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday marked the 15th anniversary of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, urging continued cooperation between Taiwan and Japan on disaster prevention and humanitarian assistance. Lai wrote on social media that Taiwan and Japan have always helped each other in the aftermath of major disasters. The magnitude 9 earthquake struck northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011, triggering a massive tsunami that claimed more than 19,000 lives, according to data from Japanese authorities. Following the disaster, Taiwan donated more than US$240 million in aid, making it one of the largest contributors of financial assistance to Japan. In addition to cash donations and
CLOSER TO CHINA: The upgraded Type-12 missile has a range of about 1,000km, compared with the original model’s range of 200km, and can reach mainland China Japan is preparing to deploy its first batch of domestically developed long-range missiles, with their launchers arriving at an army camp yesterday, as the country accelerates its offensive capability in response to rising challenges in the region. The upgraded Type-12 land-to-ship missiles are to be deployed at Camp Kengun in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Kumamoto by the end of this month, completing the process of deployment, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said without giving details. Army vehicles carrying the launchers and other equipment arrived past midnight in a highly secretive mission criticized by residents. Dozens of people stood outside of the
RSS