North Korea yesterday boasted of a newly developed anti-tank weapon that its leader said was so powerful it could turn the most heavily armored enemy tanks into “boiled pumpkin.”
Pyongyang’s state media said leader Kim Jong-un had watched tests of the portable, laser-guided rocket and declared it had the “longest firing range in the world,” and was “as accurate as a sniper’s rifle.”
“He noted with great satisfaction that even the special armored tanks and cars of the enemies that boast their high maneuverability and striking power are no more than a boiled pumpkin before the anti-tank guided weapon,” the KCNA news agency said.
Kim called for the weapon to go into mass production as soon as possible and for it to be deployed to frontline units and coastal defense units.
With a siege mentality bordering on paranoia, North Korea maintains a huge military. It has about 1.2 million active troops out of a population of about 25 million — double the size of the armed forces in South Korea, which has twice as many people.
However, most of North Korea’s weapons are outdated and the military is seriously hamstrung by the impoverished state’s chronic fuel shortages.
The shortages are likely to worsen when the country is slapped with tough new sanctions the UN is now weighing over a nuclear test and long-range rocket launch Pyongyang conducted earlier this year.
The UN Security Council sanctions include a ban on the supply of aviation fuel to North Korea.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese