- Head's hundred seals Australia win over England in 1st ODI after Labuschagne strikes
- Dream debut for Wirtz as Leverkusen thump dire Feyenoord
- Myanmar flood death toll climbs to 293: state media
- Israel army says West Bank air strike kills 4 militants
- LIV golfers get green light for US Ryder Cup team, PGA Championship
- US accuses social media giants of 'vast surveillance'
- Ten Hag to bed Hojlund, Mount in carefully when they return for Man Utd
- Breaking bad as McIlroy endures 'weird' day
- EU chief announces $11 bn for nations hit by 'heartbreaking' floods
- Spanish PM, Palestinian leader urge Mideast de-escalation
- New study reinforces theory Covid emerged at Chinese market
- World Bank boosts climate financing by 10 percent
- Bagnaia eyeing summit on home ground in 100th MotoGP
- 'Something was wrong', defendant in French mass rape tells court
- Hezbollah chief admits 'unprecedented' blow in device blasts
- Sales of US existing homes slip slightly in August
- Fear, panic haunt Lebanese after devices explode
- Labuschagne sparks Australia fightback in England ODI opener
- S.Africa's HIV research power couple says fight goes on
- Why is Israel focusing on border with Lebanon?
- Mpox vaccines administered in Rwanda, first in Africa
- US Fed rate cut is 'very positive sign' for economy: Yellen
- Unknown Mozart string trio discovered in Germany
- 'Are we five-year-olds?' F1 drivers won't mind their language
- Brazil judge orders X to reimpose block or face hefty fine
- Munich to rename stadium street after Beckenbauer
- Champions Italy to face Argentina in Davis Cup Final 8
- The winding, fitful path to weight loss drug Ozempic
- Italians defeat American Magic to reach Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Norris has 'nothing to lose' as he hunts Verstappen in Singapore
- Kyiv 'outraged' at Swiss showing of Russian war film
- French city renames Abbe Pierre square after abuse claims
- Footballer charged after huge cannabis seizure at UK airport
- Vatican recognises Medjugorje shrine, but not Virgin's messages
- Israel bombs Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon after wave of deadly blasts
- Bank of England freezes rate after jumbo US cut
- Playing Nadal is 'kind of a nightmare', says Alcaraz
- Portugal tackles last of deadly northern forest fires
- Ton-up Ashwin lifts India to 339-6 against Bangladesh
- Departing NATO chief warns US against 'isolationism'
- Coming winter 'sternest test yet' for Ukraine energy grid
- Evacuations as tail of Storm Boris floods northeast Italy
- Lebanon's Hezbollah reeling after second wave of deadly blasts
- Taiwan recognises same-sex marriages between Chinese, Taiwanese
- Stock markets rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Gabon's ousted leader Bongo says renouncing politics for good
- Lebanon device blasts: what we know about deadly attacks
- Equity markets rally after jumbo US rate cut
- Late Harrods owner Al-Fayed accused of rape: BBC
- Hong Kong man sentenced 14 months for wearing 'seditious' T-shirt
CMSC | -0.06% | 25.04 | $ | |
BCC | 4.69% | 143.802 | $ | |
JRI | -0.3% | 13.4 | $ | |
RIO | 3.36% | 65.1 | $ | |
BCE | -0.94% | 35.28 | $ | |
GSK | -1.28% | 41.895 | $ | |
SCS | -6.17% | 13.29 | $ | |
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
RYCEF | 5.76% | 6.95 | $ | |
AZN | 0.73% | 79.16 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.16% | 25.02 | $ | |
BTI | -0.7% | 37.615 | $ | |
RELX | 1.69% | 48.185 | $ | |
VOD | -1.49% | 10.08 | $ | |
NGG | -1.6% | 68.95 | $ | |
BP | 1.53% | 32.935 | $ |
North Korea fires missiles after Covid cases prompt Kim to order lockdown
North Korea confirmed its first-ever Covid-19 cases Thursday and declared a "serious emergency", with leader Kim Jong Un appearing in a mask on television for the first time to order nationwide lockdowns.
Hours after the shock announcement -- the first time the nuclear-armed country has admitted to having Covid cases -- Seoul's military said it had detected three short-range ballistic missiles fired from near Pyongyang.
The launch, one of more than a dozen sanctions-busting weapons tests so far this year, comes shortly after Washington warned that Kim's regime could test a nuke any day, with satellite images indicating fresh activity at nuclear sites.
Earlier Thursday, North Korea said it had moved into a "maximum emergency epidemic prevention system" after patients with fevers in Pyongyang tested positive for the "Omicron BA.2 variant" of Covid.
Kim, wearing a mask on state television for the first time, oversaw an emergency politburo meeting to discuss the outbreak and "called on all the cities and counties of the whole country to thoroughly lock down their areas".
Kim told the meeting that the goal was to "quickly cure the infections in order to eradicate the source of the virus spread," official news agency KCNA said, without specifying how many cases had been detected.
With its 25 million people not vaccinated against Covid, North Korea's crumbling health infrastructure would struggle to deal with a major outbreak, experts say.
- 'Continuing provocations' -
South Korea's military said the short-range ballistic missiles Pyongyang tested Thursday flew 360 km (220 miles) at an altitude of 90 km.
New President Yoon Suk-yeol's administration slammed North Korea's "continuing provocations with a ballistic missile launch despite the outbreak of coronavirus," his security office said after a meeting.
By following its reporting of Covid cases with a missile test, North Korea is signalling that "coronavirus control and its pursuit of national defence are two separate things," Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies said.
"It is now reasonable to assume it could also conduct a nuclear test with Kim Jong Un's greenlight at any moment," he added.
- No vaccines -
"For Pyongyang to publicly admit Omicron cases, the public health situation must be serious," Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul said.
"Pyongyang will likely double down on lockdowns, even though the failure of China's zero-Covid strategy suggests that approach won't work against the Omicron variant."
North Korea has turned down offers of Covid vaccines from the World Health Organization, China and Russia.
Accepting vaccines through the WHO's Covax scheme "requires transparency over how vaccines are distributed," Go Myong-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, told AFP.
"That's why North Korea rejected it," Go said.
North Korea is surrounded by countries that have battled -- or are still fighting to control -- significant Omicron-fuelled outbreaks.
South Korea, which has high rates of vaccination, has recently eased almost all Covid restrictions, with cases sharply down after a spike in March.
China, the world's only major economy to still maintain a zero-Covid policy, is battling multiple Omicron outbreaks -- with some major cities, including financial hub Shanghai, under strict stay-at-home orders.
It appears North Korea will try to avoid China's strict measures, which have seen millions of people locked into their apartments for several weeks, including in Beijing, said Cheong Seong-chang of the Sejong Institute.
But even less harsh measures would create a "severe food shortage and the same chaos China is now facing," he said.
Seoul-based specialist site NK News reported that areas of Pyongyang had already been locked down for two days, with reports of panic buying.
- Nuke test? -
South Korea's president, who was sworn in Tuesday, has vowed to get tough with Pyongyang after five years of failed diplomacy.
After high-profile talks collapsed in 2019, North Korea has doubled down on weapons testing, conducting a blitz of launches so far this year, including intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Satellite imagery indicates North Korea is preparing to conduct a nuclear test, and the United States has warned this could come as soon as this month.
The Covid outbreak could potentially disrupt their military programme, analysts said -- or accelerate it.
"There is a possibility of delaying the nuclear test in order to focus on overcoming the coronavirus," Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told AFP.
But he said if public fears over an outbreak were to spread, Kim might go ahead with a test "to divert this fear to another place".
The Sejong Institute's Cheong agreed that more weapons tests were likely for the regime to "boost the morale of North Korean citizens" in light of the Covid situation.
P.M.Smith--AMWN