N. Korea Fires 100 Artillery Rounds into Maritime 'Buffer Zone'

North Korea fired 100 artillery rounds into a maritime "buffer zone" Wednesday. AFP
North Korea fired 100 artillery rounds into a maritime "buffer zone" Wednesday. AFP
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N. Korea Fires 100 Artillery Rounds into Maritime 'Buffer Zone'

North Korea fired 100 artillery rounds into a maritime "buffer zone" Wednesday. AFP
North Korea fired 100 artillery rounds into a maritime "buffer zone" Wednesday. AFP

North Korea fired 100 artillery rounds into a maritime "buffer zone" Wednesday, Seoul's military said, hours after Pyongyang launched a series of missile tests including one that landed near South Korean waters.

"North Korea fired around 100 artillery rounds from the Kosong area in Kangwon into the 'buffer zone' north of the Northern Limit Line," Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the maritime border between the two Koreas.

Earlier, the military said it was the "first time since the peninsula was divided" at the end of Korean War hostilities in 1953 that a North Korean missile had landed so close to the South's territorial waters.

"President Yoon pointed out today that North Korea's provocation is an effective territorial invasion by a missile that crossed the Northern Limit Line for the first time since the division," his office said in a statement.

The missile closest to South Korea landed in waters just 57 kilometers east of the mainland, the military said.

Pyongyang's latest test-firing came as Seoul and Washington staged their largest-ever joint air drills, dubbed "Vigilant Storm", which involve hundreds of warplanes from both sides.



Four Workers Dead in Japan After Manhole Fall

 People visit a park on a hot day in Tokyo on July 26, 2025. (AFP)
People visit a park on a hot day in Tokyo on July 26, 2025. (AFP)
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Four Workers Dead in Japan After Manhole Fall

 People visit a park on a hot day in Tokyo on July 26, 2025. (AFP)
People visit a park on a hot day in Tokyo on July 26, 2025. (AFP)

Four workers have died in Japan after falling into a manhole near Tokyo as they inspected sewage pipes, authorities said Sunday.

The incident comes after a huge sinkhole swallowed a truck driver near the capital in January after a road collapsed because of corroded sewage pipes, sparking a nationwide inspection.

The workers -- all men in their fifties -- were checking pipes in the city of Gyoda north of Tokyo on Saturday when one fell down the manhole, followed by three more who tried to save him, the local fire department told AFP.

The department said rescuers detected hydrogen sulfide -- a gas toxic in high concentrations -- coming out of the manhole.

But city officials refused to be drawn on the cause of the initial fall.

"Detailed circumstances leading up to the accident are still unknown, so it's too early for us to say anything about our responsibility," a Gyoda city official said on condition of anonymity.

The four workers were retrieved and taken to the hospital where they were pronounced dead, according to local media reports.

Around 10 workers were at the scene of the inspection, ordered to clean the pipes of wastewater and sludge if necessary.

In May Japanese rescuers recovered the body of the dead 74-year-old truck driver months after he was swallowed by the road collapse in the city of Yashio.