Vietnam Death Toll from Typhoon Yagi Rises

This aerial picture shows flooded streets and buildings in Thai Nguyen on September 10, 2024, a few days after Super Typhoon Yagi hit northern Vietnam. (Photo by Xuan Quang / AFP)
This aerial picture shows flooded streets and buildings in Thai Nguyen on September 10, 2024, a few days after Super Typhoon Yagi hit northern Vietnam. (Photo by Xuan Quang / AFP)
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Vietnam Death Toll from Typhoon Yagi Rises

This aerial picture shows flooded streets and buildings in Thai Nguyen on September 10, 2024, a few days after Super Typhoon Yagi hit northern Vietnam. (Photo by Xuan Quang / AFP)
This aerial picture shows flooded streets and buildings in Thai Nguyen on September 10, 2024, a few days after Super Typhoon Yagi hit northern Vietnam. (Photo by Xuan Quang / AFP)

Typhoon Yagi and the landslides and floods it triggered in northern Vietnam have killed at least 82 people, with 64 others missing, the disaster management agency said on Tuesday.

Most were killed in landslides and flash floods, the agency said in a report, adding the province of Cao Bang had the highest number of casualties with 19 deaths, and 36 people still missing.

The typhoon made landfall on Saturday on Vietnam's northeastern coast, devastating a large swath of industrial and residential areas and bringing heavy rains that caused floods and landslides. It had previously hit the Philippines and the southern Chinese island of Hainan.
Several rivers in northern Vietnam have risen to alarming levels, leaving villages and residential areas inundated, according to the disaster agency and state media.
A 30-year-old bridge over the Red River in the northern province of Phu Tho collapsed on Monday, leaving eight missing, according to a statement from the provincial People's Committee.
Authorities have subsequently banned or limited traffic on other bridges across the river, including Chuong Duong Bridge, one of the largest in Hanoi, according to state media reports.



North Korea's Kim Vows to Exponentially Boost Nuclear Arsenal

09 September 2024, North Korea, Pyongyang: A photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 10 September 2024, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivering a speech to celebrate the National Foundation Day of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as the country is officially known. Photo: -/kcna/kns/dpa
09 September 2024, North Korea, Pyongyang: A photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 10 September 2024, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivering a speech to celebrate the National Foundation Day of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as the country is officially known. Photo: -/kcna/kns/dpa
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North Korea's Kim Vows to Exponentially Boost Nuclear Arsenal

09 September 2024, North Korea, Pyongyang: A photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 10 September 2024, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivering a speech to celebrate the National Foundation Day of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as the country is officially known. Photo: -/kcna/kns/dpa
09 September 2024, North Korea, Pyongyang: A photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 10 September 2024, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivering a speech to celebrate the National Foundation Day of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as the country is officially known. Photo: -/kcna/kns/dpa

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country is now implementing a nuclear force construction policy to increase the number of nuclear weapons "exponentially,” state media KCNA reported on Tuesday.

In a speech on North Korea's founding anniversary on Monday, Kim said the country must more thoroughly prepare its "nuclear capability and its readiness to use it properly at any given time in ensuring the security rights of the state,” said KCNA.
A strong military presence is needed to face "the various threats posed by the United States and its followers,” he added, according to Reuters.
Kim also said North Korea is facing a "grave threat" from what it sees as a US-led nuclear-based military bloc in the region.
South Korea's deputy defense minister for policy, Cho Chang-rae, and his US and Japanese counterparts on Tuesday condemned Pyongyang's recent diversification of nuclear delivery systems, tests and launches of multiple ballistic missiles.
Meeting in Seoul, the three reaffirmed a commitment to strengthen trilateral cooperation to ensure peace in the region, including by deterring North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, according to a joint statement released by the US State Department.
They also agreed to hold a second trilateral military exercise known as Freedom Edge in the near term.
South Korea will also hold a defense ministerial meeting with the member states of the United Nations Command (UNC) on Tuesday.
The UNC is led by the commander of the US military stationed in South Korea.
Last month, Germany became the latest to join the UNC in South Korea that helps police the heavily fortified border with North Korea and has committed to defend the South in the event of a war.
North Korea has criticized the UNC as an "illegal war organization" and Germany's entry into the US-led UN border monitoring force as raising tensions.