Seoul announced Saturday that North Korea had fired at least one ballistic missile, a day after Pyongyang accused South Korea of "despicableness" for demanding that the North apologize for a mine explosion in the demilitarized zone.
The South Korean Army Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that “our army detected the launch of a ballistic missile from the Wonsan region of North Korea towards the East Sea,” using the Korean name for the Sea of Japan.
Pyongyang denied responsibility for a landmine explosion last month that injured three South Korean soldiers inside the demilitarized zone, a buffer zone planted with mines that has separated the two Koreas since the signing of the armistice agreement in 1953.
Seoul and the UN force command said the explosion was caused by North Korean mines that were planted on the South Korean side of the border.
Earlier this week, the South Korean military demanded that North Korea issue an official apology.
The next day, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who supports the opening-up policy, urged Pyongyang to return to dialogue.
But Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of the North Korean leader, on Friday described Seoul as “despicable,” denying her country’s connection to the mine explosion.
Pakistani and Indian media reported that Indian border guard forces shot two Pakistani citizens near the border in the Punjab province on Friday, killing them, which increases tension between the two neighboring countries a year and a half after they retreated from the brink of war in disputed Kashmir.
Pakistani television, citing Pakistani security sources, said that three unarmed civilians, residents of the Kasur region in eastern Pakistan, took a few steps beyond one of the border signs, when members of the Indian Border Security Force opened fire on them.
Television reported that two of them were killed and the third was wounded, according to what was reported by the Associated Press.
There was no immediate comment from New Delhi, but Indian media reported a conflicting story, stating that there was suspicion that the men were trying to enter India.
The shooting came a day after the Pakistani army cast doubt on India's announcement that its security forces had killed a prominent leader of the extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba in the part of Kashmir under Indian control, as the army presented a man it said India had mistakenly identified as the dead militant.
Taiwan received its first two American-made F-16V fighter jets on Friday, as part of the island's efforts to enhance its military capabilities with the aim of deterring any possible Chinese attack.
An Agence France-Presse correspondent reported that the two fighters landed at a Taiwanese Air Force base in Taitung, on the southeastern coast of the island, at noon (04:00 GMT).
China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has threatened to use force to control it, and Beijing also opposes US arms sales to the island.
These two aircraft are part of an $8 billion deal that includes 66 F-16V aircraft, a deal that was approved during the first term of US President Donald Trump and was scheduled to be delivered this year.
The arrival of the two planes comes at a time when Taiwan awaits US approval of a separate arms deal worth $14 billion.
