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North Korea Missile Launch May Have Failed and Fallen Inland

North Korea test-launches 2 ballistic missiles, after end of new US-South Korea-Japan drill - The Associated Press
North Korea test-launches 2 ballistic missiles, after end of new US-South Korea-Japan drill - The Associated Press
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North Korea Missile Launch May Have Failed and Fallen Inland

North Korea test-launches 2 ballistic missiles, after end of new US-South Korea-Japan drill - The Associated Press
North Korea test-launches 2 ballistic missiles, after end of new US-South Korea-Japan drill - The Associated Press

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles on Monday and the second may have failed and blown up during an irregular flight, possibly raining debris inland, South Korea's military said.

South Korea was still analysing the launch and did not immediately have confirmation whether there were any casualties or damage to North Korean property, military spokesperson Lee Sung-joon told a briefing, according to Reuters.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff earlier said the North fired a short-range ballistic missile that flew about 600 km (373 miles) and a second ballistic missile that flew about 120 km, both from an area near the west coast.

Both were fired towards the north-east, it said.

The trajectory means the second may have fallen in an area close to the North's capital, Pyongyang, but Lee said the military was unable to comment further.

South Korea has said it watches the North's missile launches from the preparations stage and tracks the projectile in flight.

"We strongly condemn North Korea's missile launch as a provocation that seriously threatens peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, adding it shared information on the missiles with US and Japanese authorities.

"The South Korean military will maintain its capacity and posture to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation while closely monitoring North Korea's various activities under a strong South Korea-US joint defence posture."

The second missile on Monday would be the second failed launch in five days. South Korea's military said the North fired what appeared to be a hypersonic missile on Wednesday but it spiralled out of control and exploded.

The first missile fired on Monday appeared to be similar to the North's KN-23 short-range ballistic missile, which is believed to have been used by Russia against Ukraine.

North Korea is suspected of supplying ballistic missiles and artillery shells to Russia. Both countries deny it despite their pledges of military cooperation and a recently signed pact that includes promises of mutual military support.

South Korean officials have said North Korea's recent short-range ballistic missile launches may be intended to show its wares to potential buyers.

On Sunday, North Korea criticized a joint military exercise by South Korea, Japan and the United States held last month and warned of "overwhelming response" against such drills.

North Korea said last week it had successfully conducted an important test aimed at developing missiles carrying multiple warheads, a claim rejected by South Korea as "deception" to mask a failed launch.

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Land Routes across Africa are Twice as Deadly for Migrants as Mediterranean Voyages, UN Estimates

Migrants rescued by Tunisia’s national guard during an attempted crossing of the Mediterranean by boat, rest on the beach at the port of el-Ketef in Ben Guerdane in southern Tunisia near the border with Libya, on December 15, 2021. (AFP/Fathi Nasri)
Migrants rescued by Tunisia’s national guard during an attempted crossing of the Mediterranean by boat, rest on the beach at the port of el-Ketef in Ben Guerdane in southern Tunisia near the border with Libya, on December 15, 2021. (AFP/Fathi Nasri)
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Land Routes across Africa are Twice as Deadly for Migrants as Mediterranean Voyages, UN Estimates

Migrants rescued by Tunisia’s national guard during an attempted crossing of the Mediterranean by boat, rest on the beach at the port of el-Ketef in Ben Guerdane in southern Tunisia near the border with Libya, on December 15, 2021. (AFP/Fathi Nasri)
Migrants rescued by Tunisia’s national guard during an attempted crossing of the Mediterranean by boat, rest on the beach at the port of el-Ketef in Ben Guerdane in southern Tunisia near the border with Libya, on December 15, 2021. (AFP/Fathi Nasri)

The United Nations and partners say more migrants and refugees in Africa are heading northward toward the Mediterranean and Europe, crossing perilous routes in the Sahara where criminal gangs subject them to enslavement, organ removal, rape, kidnapping for ransom and other abuses.
A report released Friday by the UN refugee and migration agencies and the Mixed Migration Center research group estimated that land routes in Africa are twice as deadly as the sea lanes across the Mediterranean — which is the deadliest maritime route for migrants in the world, The Associated Press said.
The report said new conflict and instability in countries including Mali, Burkina Faso and Sudan have been behind a rise in the number of journeys toward the Mediterranean. But Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Guinea were the top countries of origin of migrants.
It comes as many politicians in Europe and beyond, in an important election year, have fanned or drawn support from anti-immigrant sentiment. But conflict, economic strife, repression and the impact of climate change in many countries in the developing world has fanned the flow of migrants across borders nonetheless — at the risk of physical abuse and death.
“Refugees and migrants are increasingly traversing areas where insurgent groups, militias and other criminal actors operate, and where human trafficking, kidnapping for ransom, forced labor and sexual exploitation are rife,” according to a summary of the report, which follows up on a similar study four years ago.
The authors admit there are no comprehensive statistics on deaths on the land routes in Africa. But refugee agency UNHCR has cited a more-than-tripling of the number of refugees and asylum-seekers in Tunisia — a key transit country for migrants aiming to get to Europe — between 2020 and 2023.
The report aimed to spotlight the dangers of land routes that lead to the Mediterranean, which was crossed by over 72,000 migrants and refugees in the first half of this year, and where 785 people have died or gone missing over those six months, according to UNHCR figures.
UNHCR special envoy Vincent Cochetel, citing accounts from some migrants and refugees who survived, said some smugglers dump sick people off pickup trucks ferrying them across the desert, or don't go back to retrieve others who fall off.
"Everyone that has crossed the Sahara can tell you of people they know who died in the desert, whereas you interview people in Lampedusa: Not that many people will tell you about people they know who ... died at sea,” he said, alluding to an Italian island in the Mediterranean.
The UN's International Organization for Migration reported earlier this year that more than 3,100 people died on the Mediterranean crossing last year.
The authors of the report, which drew on testimonies from over 31,000 people, said international action has been inadequate and pointed to “huge gaps” in protection and help for people making the perilous journey.
“In total, 1,180 persons are known to have died while crossing the Sahara Desert for the period January 2020 to May 2024, but the number is believed to be much higher,” it said.
The risk of sexual violence, kidnapping and death was reported by higher percentages of migrants questioned for the report compared to the previous one in 2020, and Algeria, Libya and Ethiopia were considered by respondents as the most dangerous.
The teams have tallied hundreds of cases of organ removals — a practice that has happened for years, Cochetel said. Sometimes, migrants agree to such removals as a way to earn money.
“But most of the time, people are drugged and the organ is removed without their consent: They wake up, and a kidney is missing,” he said.
Libya has emerged as a primary transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. In March, authorities discovered a mass grave containing the bodies of at least 65 migrants in the deserts of western Libya.