Missiles

North Korea fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles early Tuesday, Seoul's military reported, marking Pyongyang's second launch in days and occurring just hours before Americans vote for a new president.

South Korea, Japan, and the United States on Sunday conducted a joint air drill involving a nuclear-capable bomber, Seoul's military said, in response to North Korea's latest long-range missile test.

Japan's Defence Ministry reported that North Korea launched a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday morning. The missile was fired at 7:11 a.m. local time from an interior location within North Korea, flying eastward before landing in waters about 200 kilometers west of Hokkaido's Okushiri Island at approximately 8:37 a.m., according to NHK World.

This picture taken and released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Oct. 31, 2024 shows the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) during a test-fire conducted by the Missile Administration at an undisclosed location in North Korea. North Korea said Oct.

China said it test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday, firing it into the Pacific Ocean in its first such exercise in decades.

Beijing has stepped up its nuclear development and boosted defense spending in recent years, with the Pentagon last October warning China was developing its arsenal more quickly than the United States had anticipated.

North Korea initiated the firing of an unspecified ballistic missile towards the East Sea (Sea of Japan) in the early hours of Monday, as reported by the South Korean military, intensifying concerns amid speculation about its nature.

According to officials in Seoul and Tokyo, North Korea launched another long-range ballistic missile on Monday with the potential to strike the United States, continuing a record-breaking number of weapons tests this year that the West has denounced.

It is understood that the nuclear weapon, which Russian President Vladimir Putin previously described as a "meteorite", can be launched outside the Earth's atmosphere and hit multiple targets anywhere in the world in less than 30 minutes, the British newspaper Express reports.

France, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia and Hungary have signed a letter of intent to jointly purchase the French "Mistral" air defense systems, Reuters reports, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Germany will buy Israel's Iron Dome air defense system, Politico reported. The budget committee of the Bundestag approved the payment of the first tranche of 560 million euros for the purchase of the Israeli Arrow-3 air defense system.