Tensions increase after North Korean launch

Man dies after fall from balloon

A MAN has died after falling from a hot-air balloon mid-flight, Israeli police have said.

Police say the man, in his 20s, was a crew member who had been dangling from the basket when he fell from an unspecified height near the city of Afula.

A local police official told Israeli Army Radio that an initial investigation revealed that the hot-air balloon appears to have taken off with the man attached to the basket.

The man reportedly plummeted on to a passing car before the pilot was able to land the hot-air balloon.

SOUTH KOREA’S military has said North Korea has fired at least one ballistic missile into the sea that was probably designed to be launched from a submarine.

The launch of the missile into the sea came hours after the United States reaffirmed an offer to resume talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme. It underscored how North Korea has continued to expand its military capabilities during the pause in diplomacy.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected that North Korea fired one short-range missile it believed was a submarinelaunched ballistic missile from waters near the port of Sinpo, and that the South Korean and US militaries were analysing the launch.

The South Korean military said the launch was made at sea, but it did not say whether it was fired from a vessel underwater or another launch platform above the sea’s surface. Japan’s military said its initial analysis suggested that North Korea fired two ballistic missiles.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said officials were examining whether they were submarine-launched. He interrupted a campaign trip ahead of Japanese elections later this month and returned to Tokyo because of the launch. He ordered his government to start revising the country’s national security strategy to adapt to growing North Korean threats, including the possible development of the ability to pre-emptively strike North Korean military targets.

“We cannot overlook North Korea’s recent development in missile technology and its impact on the security of Japan and in the region,” Mr Kishida said.

Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi said one of the North Korean missiles reached a maximum altitude of 30 miles and flew on “an irregular trajectory” while travelling as far as 360 miles. He said the missile did not breach Japan’s exclusive economic zone set outside its territorial waters.

South Korean officials held a national security council meeting and expressed “deep regret” over the launch occurring despite efforts to revive diplomacy. A strong South Korean response could anger North Korea, which has accused Seoul of hypocrisy for criticising the North’s weapons tests while expanding its own military capabilities.

The apparent site of the firing – Sinpo – is a major defence industry hub where North Korea focuses its submarine production and develops ballistic weapons systems.

The North last tested a submarinelaunched ballistic missile in October, 2019. Analysts had expected the nation to resume tests of such weapons, after it rolled out at least two new submarine-launched missiles during military parades in 2020 and 2021.

There have also been signs that North Korea is trying to build a larger submarine that would be capable of carrying and firing multiple missiles.

Ending a months-long lull in September, North Korea has been ramping up its weapons tests while making conditional peace offers to Seoul, reviving a pattern of pressuring South Korea to try to get what it wants from the United States.

Negotiations between the US and North Korea have stalled for more than two years because of disagreements over an easing of crippling US-led sanctions against North Korea in exchange for denuclearisation steps by the North.