SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea and Japan said, a day after Seoul reported the North was making preparations to test-launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.

The launch, at a sharply raised angle, was from an area near the North’s capital, Pyongyang, at 7:10 a.m. (2210 GMT), the Joint Chiefs said in a statement. The Japanese government later said the missile dropped into the sea at 8:37 a.m. (2337 GMT).

“It is believed the North Korea ballistic missile is a long-range ballistic missile fired at a high angle,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

Earlier, the Japanese government said the missile was expected to land about 300 kilometers west of its Okushiri Island off its northern Hokkaido region, outside its exclusive economic zone and toward the Russian coast.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba later said there had been no reported damage from the launch.

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Japan strongly condemns the North’s action, which threatened not only Japan but also the international community. He said the flight time was likely the longest of North Korean missile launches and could be a new type of missile.

On Wednesday, South Korea’s Defense Intelligence Command said the North had placed a mobile launcher at a location making preparations to launch what could be an ICBM around the time of the U.S. presidential election, which takes place Tuesday.

North Korea has conducted a series of ICBM test launches at a sharply steep trajectory to let the projectiles drop within much shorter distances relative to the designed range, partly for safety and to avoid the political fallout of sending a missile far into the Pacific.

But a launch with a flatter, standard trajectory is considered essential for ICBM development to ensure the warhead is capable of making a reentry into the atmosphere while maintaining control to hit an intended target.

The North last test launched an ICBM in December last year, a projectile fueled by solid-propellant and fired from a road launcher. That launch was also at a sharply raised angle and gave a flight time that could translate to a potential range of 15,000 kilometers on a normal trajectory.

That is a distance that puts anywhere in the mainland United States within range.

North Korea has come under international condemnation after South Korea and the United States said Pyongyang had dispatched 11,000 troops to Russia for deployment in the war in Ukraine, with 3,000 of them already moved close to the front lines.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and his South Korean counterpart Kim Yong-hyun condemned the deployment at a meeting in Washington on Wednesday.

North Korea’s move to make its troops co-belligerents fighting alongside the Russians has the potential to lengthen the already 2 ½-year Ukraine conflict and draw in others, Austin said.

North Korea has already been supplying arms to Russia including missiles, artillery and anti-tank rockets in more than 13,000 containers since August last year, according to the South’s intelligence agency. Ukraine authorities have also said some of missiles fired by Russia were from the North.

At a summit in June in Pyongyang, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un signed a comprehensive partnership treaty that included a mutual defense pact.

Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang directly acknowledged the supply of weapons from North Korea or the deployment of North Korean troops to the Ukraine war. Putin has said how Russia implements its partnership with North Korea is its own business.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui will hold strategic consultations in Moscow with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, Russia said Wednesday. 
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taipei, taiwan — China and Russia are deepening cooperation in Antarctica in a trend that analysts say could undermine marine conservation efforts and disrupt the long-standing status quo in the resource-rich region.

China and Russia were accused of collaborating to block key proposals that would establish new marine protected areas and revise the krill fishery management plan in the Southern Ocean, during the annual conference of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) in Australia last week.

The commission was established in 1982 and is a part of the Antarctic Treaty System, which establishes the legal status of Antarctica and comprises four different treaties.

CCAMLR focuses on preserving marine life and other resources in the Antarctic. The commission has 26 members, including China, Russia, the United States, Australia and the European Union.

Any member state can veto a proposed measure, and Russia and China have repeatedly used that power to block proposed conservation efforts by the council over the years.

Some member states said every proposed measure at this year’s conference, including the establishment of four new marine protected areas and an extension of existing krill management measures, was blocked by China or Russia or both.

“Most concerning was the failure of some members to support the extension of existing krill management measures while the harmonization process is progressed,” a spokesperson of the Australian Antarctic Division told VOA in a written response.

“This is a backwards step for CCAMLR and puts krill, and the ecosystems and predators it supports, at risk,” the spokesperson added. Krill are small shrimp-like crustaceans that play a crucial role in the marine food chain.

Limit on krill fishing

The measure that CCAMLR member states hope to preserve is the mechanism that limits krill fishing in a protected area near the Antarctic Peninsula to no more than 620,000 tons.

Another 620,000 tons of fishable krill are redistributed across several subareas to prevent overconcentration of krill fishing in one area.

The measure needs to be renewed annually during the CCAMLR meeting with the approval of all the commission’s member states. Analysts said China’s and Russia’s move to block the rollover of the krill measure will affect the sustainability of a crucial food source for species such as penguins, seals and whales.

“If there’s too much krill fishing in one small region of Antarctica, it will restrict the amount of food available to the seal and penguin populations,” Tony Press, an expert on Antarctic affairs at the University of Tasmania, told VOA in a video interview.

In his view, other countries within CCAMLR should try to collectively challenge China’s and Russia’s decisions to block the proposed conservation measures through diplomatic means or decide to implement the proposed measures without involving Beijing or Moscow.

“Other countries could decide that Russia and China’s behaviors mean they would have to start implementing decisions among themselves,” Press said.

Experts say China and Russia refuse to support the proposed measures because they think setting up more marine protected areas will lead to more areas in the Antarctic becoming unavailable for use or development.

“They think once a marine protected area is adopted, it creates a snowball effect and generates more support behind the development of additional marine protected areas, which both countries think could lead to all marine living resource exploitation in the Southern Ocean being completely prohibited,” said Donald Rothwell, professor of international law at Australian National University.

Lynda Goldsworthy, a research associate at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, said one of China’s objectives in increasing its fishery footprint in the Southern Ocean is to “increase geopolitical influence in the Antarctic region.”

But since Russia is not as invested in the Southern Ocean as before, Goldsworthy said its decision to block marine conservation efforts in Antarctica is driven by an attempt to challenge the rules-based world order.

“Russia is playing the disruptor and [the objections] are part of their global disruption approach,” she told VOA by phone.

The Russian Foreign Ministry and Russian Embassy in the U.S. have not responded to VOA’s request for comments. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Chinese Embassy in Australia also have not responded to requests for comments from VOA.

CCAMLR successfully established two marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean in 2009 and 2017, but no new zones have been established since then. The four new zones proposed during the 2024 meeting would increase the protected area in the Southern Ocean to 26%.

Antarctic status quo

The deepened cooperation between China and Russia in Antarctica comes as Beijing expands its presence across the continent. In February, China inaugurated a new scientific research station near a U.S. research station. The development raises concerns among some security analysts that China may collect intelligence or develop its dual-used capabilities through the station.

China’s increased presence in Antarctica has allowed Beijing to more boldly assert its agenda in some regional bodies such as CCAMLR, said Press.

China’s behavior at last week’s conference “is a reflection of their confidence because they are now a party with a significant presence in the Antarctic,” he told VOA.

“A lot of what they [China and Russia] are doing points to the idea that the actions they take now are to ensure there are no curbs on any future actions they might take,” Press added.

Goldsworthy said the growing synergy between China and Russia in Antarctica could create potential challenges for the Antarctic Treaty System.

“There had been blockages for the protection of penguins on the Antarctic continent, and I do think both Russia and China are positioning themselves for [mineral mining] when or if the current mining ban is lifted,” she told VOA.

While Beijing and Moscow have been consistently blocking CCAMLR’s proposals, Rothwell said it is unclear whether that trend has “totally infected decision-making within the Antarctic Treaty,” which designates the continent as a demilitarized zone for peaceful purposes and scientific research.

Even if China and Russia can’t easily challenge the treaty, Rothwell said that China “will find it advantageous to align itself with Russia,” in order to fulfill its aspirations to exercise control and influence in Antarctica.

Goldsworthy added that if China and Russia maintain their “combative approach” in the Antarctic Treaty System, which includes CCAMLR, it could turn “a safe and secure region” into a “much less peace-oriented” continent.
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ISLAMABAD — China has increased diplomatic pressure on close ally Pakistan to take action against the militants responsible for repeated attacks on Chinese workers, warning that the violence is “unacceptable” and poses “a constraint” on Beijing’s investments under its Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI.

The rare public warning accusing Islamabad of consistent security lapses concerning Chinese workers was issued by Beijing’s ambassador, Jiang Zaidong, while addressing a seminar in Islamabad this week. Analysts said the remarks reflect China’s increasing frustration with the security risks facing its workers in the South Asian nation.

Jiang referenced suicide car bombings in March and October of this year, which resulted in the deaths of seven Chinese personnel. It raised the number of Chinese workers killed in Pakistan to 21 since the countries launched a massive bilateral connectivity project as part of the BRI about a decade ago.

“It is unacceptable for us to be attacked twice in only six months,” the Chinese diplomat stated, speaking through his interpreter. He stressed the need for Islamabad to take “effective remedial measures to prevent the recurrence of such terror acts and ensure that perpetrators are identified, caught, and punished.”

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, considered the flagship project of the BRI, has brought more than $25 billion in Chinese investment to enhance Pakistan’s infrastructure, facilitating improved bilateral trade and further integrating of the broader South Asian region.

Jiang urged Pakistan to take action against “all anti-China terrorist groups,” stating that “security is the biggest concern” for Beijing and “a constraint on CPEC” projects. He added that “without a safe and sound environment, nothing can be achieved.”

The CPEC has built roads, highways, primarily coal-fired power plants, and the strategic deepwater Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, while addressing Tuesday’s seminar organized by the Islamabad-based independent Pakistan-China Institute, assured the Chinese ambassador that his country was taking action against terrorists and tightening the security of Chinese nationals.

Dar stated that Pakistan would share the progress with China in high-level talks next month.

“The Chinese are very clear; no matter how lucrative an investment is anywhere, if the security issue is there, they do not send Chinese personnel. Your country is the only exception,” he told the audience, quoting Chinese leaders as telling Pakistani counterparts in recent meetings.

Critics argue that Pakistan’s financial difficulties and political instability have discouraged China from making new investments in the CPEC.

Michael Kugelman, an expert on South Asian affairs based in Washington, told VOA that Beijing’s security concerns have made it challenging for the mega project to regain momentum anytime soon.

“When the Chinese envoy publicly upbraids Pakistan for not providing proper security, you know there is a big problem,” said Kugelman, who directs the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center.

“I imagine the objective moving forward will be carefully working to maintain and advance existing projects but being cautious about agreeing to new ones until China feels less concerned about security risks,” he added.

After the launch of CPEC projects, Pakistan’s military formed a specially trained unit of over 13,000 troops to safeguard these initiatives nationwide. But the attacks on Chinese nationals have led to concerns regarding the effectiveness of this military unit.

Hasnain Javed, a Beijing-based Pakistani foreign research associate, noted that China had never before publicly criticized Islamabad.

“This is a strong rebuttal and a serious dissatisfaction over the poor security around CPEC,” Javed told VOA in written comments. “Now, when the military is the main guarantor, particularly for security, the Chinese seem to be running on low patience.”

Most of the recent attacks on Chinese workers and engineers have been claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, a prominent separatist group waging insurgent attacks in Balochistan.

The group, which is made up of militants from the Baloch ethnic minority, accuses China of helping Pakistan to exploit the province’s natural resources and has been calling for Beijing to withdraw its CPEC and other investments.

Both countries reject the allegations, saying Baloch insurgents are on a mission to subvert development in the impoverished province and undermine Pakistan’s close ties with China.

The BLA, listed as a global terrorist organization by the United States, has lately intensified guerrilla attacks in Balochistan, killing hundreds of Pakistanis, primarily security force members, in recent months.

During his visit to Pakistan earlier in October, Chinese Premier Li Qiang also highlighted the significance of security for economic development and cooperation.

A post-visit joint statement quoted the Chinese side as stressing “the need and urgency to take targeted security measures in Pakistan to jointly create a safe environment for cooperation between the two countries.”
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PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA — Archaeologists in Cambodia have unearthed a dozen centuries-old sandstone statues in a “remarkable discovery” at the Angkor World Heritage Site near the city of Siem Reap, authorities said Wednesday.

The statues — depicting “door guardians” — were discovered last week near the north gate leading to the 11th-century Royal Palace at Angkor Thom, the last capital of the Khmer Empire, said Long Kosal, spokesperson for the Apsara National Authority, the government agency that oversees the archaeological park.

Teams were assessing the ancient gate’s structure and searching for fallen stones around the portal on the north side of Angkor Thom, one of four entrances to the complex, when the discovery was made.

The statues depict guardians standing at attention and vary in size from about 1 meter to 110 centimeters (about 39 to 43 inches). They were found buried at depths of up to 1.4 meters (4.5 feet), and some are in surprisingly good shape, with each featuring unique facial hair ornaments, adding to their distinctiveness, archaeologist Sorn Chanthorn said.

“Experts believe these door guardian statues exemplify the Khneang Style, aligning with the construction period of the 11th-century palace.” the Apsara National Authority said.

Angkor Thom is part of the Angkor Archaeological Park, a complex that sprawls over some 400 square kilometers (155 square miles), named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992 and one of Southeast Asia’s most popular tourist destinations.

It contains the ruins of Khmer Empire capitals from the 9th to 15th centuries, including the temple of Angkor Wat.

The site, near Siem Reap, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh, drew more than 500,000 international visitors in the first half of 2024, according to Cambodia’s Tourism Ministry.

The archaeological dig was a collaborative project between Apsara and the China-Cambodia Government Team for Safeguarding Angkor, Apsara said.

Following the discovery of the statues, the archaeological team carefully documented their positions before removing them for cleaning and restoration. They will eventually be returned to their original locations, authorities said.

Many Khmer cultural treasures were looted during the long period of civil war and instability when Cambodia was ruled by the brutal communist Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s.

Cambodia has benefited from a trend that in recent decades has seen the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures taken from their homelands. In August, it celebrated the return of dozens of artifacts from museums and private collections abroad.

It has also come under criticism for efforts to clean up the Angkor site, which has involved relocating thousands of families in what Amnesty International has condemned as a “gross violation of international human rights law.”

At its meeting in July, the U.N.’s World Heritage Committee recommended that Cambodia invite a new team of experts to monitor the situation.
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