Pyongyang
Missile launches: The arms race between North and South Korea ramped up this week, with both countries test-firing ballistic missiles off their coasts. In violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the North fired two missiles that traveled about 500 miles and splashed into the waters between South Korea and Japan. Hours later, the South tested its first submarine-launched ballistic missile—a launch that was pre-planned and not in response to the North’s show of force. Cheon Seong-whun, a former South Korean national security official, said the North was attempting to get attention and “elevate the need for the U.S. to resume talks.” The U.S. and North Korea haven’t held formal talks in two years, and the regime in Pyongyang has ratcheted up its rhetoric. Kim Yo Jong, sister of dictator Kim Jong Un, warned this week of the “complete destruction” of bilateral relations with the South.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Afghan pilots freed: A group of Afghan air force pilots who became caught in a diplomatic tug-of-war after flying themselves and their families to neighboring Uzbekistan amid the Taliban takeover have arrived at a U.S. base in the United Arab Emirates. The U.S.-trained pilots used 46 aircraft—including attack planes and Black Hawk helicopters—to transport some 450 Afghans across the border last month. Afghan pilots have been targeted by the Taliban for retribution because of the battlefield advantage they gave the central government before its collapse last month. The Taliban pressured Uzbek authorities for the return of the aircraft and the refugees, who were held in a prison-like camp. But under a U.S. brokered deal, about 175 of the Afghans were transferred to the UAE this week, and the rest are expected to follow soon.