North Korea conducts military exercises with live ammunition, and Indonesia continues to search for missing ferry personnel

North Korea said on Monday that the launch of a number of missiles the day before Saturday was part of live-fire exercises carried out by forces including artillery and long-range missile units.

The Korean Central News Agency reported that the “joint fire attack training” involved five military units, and included testing a group of weapon systems, including attack drones, cruise missiles, and tactical ballistic missiles, as well as multiple large-caliber missile launchers.

The agency quoted an artillery commander as saying that the training would raise the morale of the forces and improve their ability to “completely crush the enemy” whenever the order was issued.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Saturday that North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles that flew approximately 250 kilometers toward the sea off its eastern coast.

The launch came one day after South Korea, the United States and Japan concluded the Freedom Edge exercises, which lasted five days and focused on confronting Pyongyang's threats.

Today (Monday), Indonesian rescue services resumed searches for 129 people still missing from the passengers of a ferry that sank in the Java Sea, killing at least six people.

The Virgo Transport 8 ferry was carrying 213 passengers and 30 crew members when it sailed on Saturday from Surabaya on the eastern island of Java, heading to Banjarmasin on the island of Borneo.

Today (Monday), the head of the National Search and Rescue Agency, Muhammad Shafi’i, confirmed the death of six people, noting that 108 people had been rescued, while 129 were still missing. He said that five aircraft and 17 ships, including warships, were deployed to participate in the search operations.

He stressed: “We will intensify search operations in six sectors that we have identified, giving priority to searching for victims floating on the surface of the water.” He added that divers and drones will also be deployed under the surface of the water to search for victims inside and near the hull of the sunken ferry, after relief teams determine its location.

For his part, Transport Minister Dodi Buruagandi announced (Monday) during a press conference that the ferry that capsized and sank amid bad weather conditions and waves more than two and a half meters high, was not overcrowded, but rather the number of passengers on board was less than its maximum capacity of 500 people.

Maritime accidents are frequent in Indonesia, which includes more than 17,000 islands and relies heavily on maritime transport, partly due to non-compliance with safety standards and fluctuations in weather conditions.