SEOUL: South Korea said Tuesday it had successfully launched its homegrown space rocket and placed a payload into orbit in a “giant leap” for the country’s quest to become an advanced space-faring nation.
The Korea Satellite Launch Vehicle II, nicknamed Nuri and emblazoned with the South Korean flag, lifted off at 4:00pm (0700 GMT) from the launch site in Goheung on the southern coast, trailing a column of flame.
All three stages of the rocket worked, taking it to its target altitude of 700 kilometers (430 miles), and it successfully separated a performance verification satellite and put it into orbit, Seoul said.
South Korea’s space program “has taken a giant leap forward,” said Lee Jong-ho, minister of science and technology, adding he declared the mission a success.
“South Korea has now become the seventh nation in the world to launch a space vehicle with homegrown technology,” he said, adding the government would continue its quest to become “an advanced space-faring nation.”
South Korea will launch a Moon orbiter in August, Lee added.
The Tuesday test, South Korea’s second test launch of its homegrown space rocket, comes eight months after the first test failed to put a dummy satellite into orbit.
In the first test last October, all three stages of the rocket worked with the vehicle reaching an altitude of 700 kilometers, and the 1.5-ton payload separating successfully.
But it failed to put a dummy satellite into orbit after the third-stage engine stopped burning earlier than scheduled.
In Tuesday’s test, in addition to a dummy satellite, Nuri carried a rocket performance verification satellite and four cube satellites developed by four local universities for research purposes.
The three-stage Nuri rocket has been a decade in development at a cost of 2 trillion won ($1.5 billion).
It weighs 200 tons and is 47.2 meters (155 feet) long, fitted with a total of six liquid-fueled engines.
In Asia, China, Japan and India all have advanced space programs, and the South’s nuclear-armed neighbor North Korea was the most recent entrant to the club of countries with their own satellite launch capability.
Ballistic missiles and space rockets use similar technology and Pyongyang put a 300-kilogram (660-pound) satellite into orbit in 2012 in what Washington condemned as a disguised missile test.
South Korea becomes the seventh nation — not including North Korea — to have successfully launched a one-ton payload on their own rockets.
The South Korean space program has a mixed record — its first two launches in 2009 and 2010, which in part used Russian technology, both ended in failure.
The second one exploded two minutes into the flight, with Seoul and Moscow blaming each other.
Eventually a 2013 launch succeeded, but still relied on a Russian-developed engine for its first stage.
“The fact that we now have our own space rocket means we will be able to test and verify technologies needed for space exploration projects down the road,” Bang Hyo-choong, professor of aerospace engineering at KAIST, told the Yonhap News Agency.
The satellite launch business is increasingly the preserve of private companies, notably Elon Musk’s SpaceX, whose clients include the US space agency NASA and the South Korean military.
The Tuesday test looks set to bring South Korea closer to achieving its space ambitions, including a plan to land a probe on the Moon by 2030.
South Korea plans to conduct four more such test launches by 2027.
South Korea space rocket launch successfully puts satellites in orbit
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South Korea space rocket launch successfully puts satellites in orbit
- South Korea’s space program “has taken a giant leap forward” with the launch, says minister
- The country will launch Moon orbiter in August
In Norway’s Arctic, meteorologists have a first-row seat to climate change
At 66, Robertsen retired after enduring spartan conditions during missions that totalled eight years on two islands of the Svalbard archipelago: Bjornoya (Bear Island) and Hogen.
To reach the remote Bjornoya, where the only humans are the nine employees of the small weather station, the meteorologists have to fly in by helicopter as they are rotated on a six-month basis.
“The idea is to not stay too long, because it’s a different rhythm, and you are isolated,” Robertsen told AFP.
It is demanding work.
“It’s a 24/7 occupation,” he said. “We are doing it all day, all night.” The team worked shifts to cover all hours of the day, he explained.
Weather observation starts in the early morning at 6:00 am.
“It’s manually done, then you have to go outside and check the bucket that is collecting precipitation,” said Robertsen.
“During wintertime you have to melt the snow and ice into water” to determine how much has fallen.
The data is then transmitted the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in Tromso and Oslo.
“This tiny little observation is actually quite crucial for the weather forecasting systems up north, because observations are so sparse from that area.”
Bjornoya sits in the middle of fishing grounds, and the weather reports published twice a day are closely followed by the fishing boats in the area.
Since his first missions to the Arctic in the 1990s, Robertsen has witnessed the changing climate.
“When I started going up north, there was a lot of ice. In the later years, it’s less ice and fewer polar bears. You can see the climate change,” he said.
Polar bears have been classified as a vulnerable population since 1982 on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List of Threatened Species, with the loss of Arctic sea ice the most pressing threat against the species.
However, their precise numbers, are almost impossible to assess.
In winter, employees of station always venture out in pairs and have to be armed due to the presence of polar bears, but according to Robertsen it’s rarer to encounter them today.
In April, during his last mission to the island, Robertsen had an accident while doing carpentry: he slipped and ended up cutting one finger clean off and half of another.
Due to tough weather conditions, he had to wait some 26 hours before being evacuated by helicopter and transported to a hospital.
“It was a heavy snowstorm coming in, only the day after the helicopter came,” he recounted.
Looking back, Robertsen does not regret the years spent under the austere living conditions.
“The Arctic has given me so many experiences and memories so it is a small fee to pay back with my left little finger and part of my ring finger,” he said.
More evacuation orders issued as firefighters battle major wildfire on the Greek island of Chios
ATHENS: Greek authorities sent new evacuation notifications for two areas near the main town of the eastern Aegean island of Chios Monday morning, as firefighters struggled to control a major wildfire raging on the town’s outskirts for a second day.
The fire department said 190 firefighters were battling the blaze Monday. They were backed up by 35 vehicles, five helicopters and two water-dropping planes. Strong winds in the area since Sunday have hampered firefighting efforts.
Push alerts have been sent to mobile phones in the area urging people to evacuate a total of 16 villages, settlements and neighborhoods on the outskirts of Chios town since the blaze broke out on Sunday.
The fire started in three separate locations. Authorities have sent a specialist fire department arson investigation team to the island to look into the causes.
Wildfires are frequent in Greece during its hot, dry summers, but authorities have said climate change has been fueling bigger and more frequent blazes.
In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee. More than 100 people died, including some who drowned trying to swim away from the flames.
Sri Lanka seizes $76m smuggled drugs this year
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s anti-narcotics drive has resulted in the seizure of more than three tonnnes (6,600 pounds) of illegal drugs with a street value of $76 million this year, officials said Monday.
Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala said most of the illegal drugs originated in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and were being smuggled into the island by sea.
He said there were an estimated 400,000 addicts in the nation of 22 million people.
“We need to reduce demand while keeping up detections,” Wijepala told reporters in Colombo.
Police chief Priyantha Weerasooriya said the drugs seized had a street value of 23 billion rupees ($76 million). That was close to the 28 billion rupees’ worth of drugs seized in the whole of 2024.
More than 1,000 people were arrested for drug dealing and smuggling, he added. They included a 38-year-old Thai woman, arrested at Colombo airport on May 30 carrying nearly 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of cocaine, the largest detection of the drug at an entry point to the South Asian nation.
Also last month, three others — from Britain, India and Thailand — were arrested trying to smuggle in nearly 60 kilograms (132 pounds) of synthetic cannabis.
All four suspects, including the Thai woman arrested with cocaine, could face life imprisonment if convicted.
Sri Lankan authorities have previously seized large quantities of heroin off the country’s shores, suggesting the island is being used as a transit hub for narcotics destined for other locations.
In October, a Sri Lankan court sentenced 10 Iranian men to life imprisonment after they pleaded guilty to heroin smuggling.
Sri Lanka’s largest single seizure of narcotics occurred in December 2016, when Customs found 800 kilos of cocaine in a transshipment container of timber destined for India.
Okinawa marks 80 years since end of one of harshest WWII battles with pledge to share tragic history
Okinawa marks 80 years since end of one of harshest WWII battles with pledge to share tragic history
- The Battle of Okinawa killed a quarter of the island’s population, leading to a 27-year US occupation and a heavy American troop presence to date
TOKYO: Okinawa marked the 80th anniversary of the end of one of the harshest battles of World War II fought on the southern island.
With global tensions escalating, its governor said on Monday it is the Okinawan “mission” to keep telling the tragic history and its impact today.
The Battle of Okinawa killed a quarter of the island’s population, leading to a 27-year US occupation and a heavy American troop presence to date.
Monday’s memorial comes one day after US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, adding to a sense of uncertainty on the island about the heavy American military presence and in its remote islands, already worried about getting embroiled in a potential conflict in Taiwan.
Gov. Denny Tamaki, noting the escalating global conflicts and nuclear threats, made a resolve to contribute to global peace studies, disarmament and the preservation of war remains. “It is our mission, as those living in the present, to preserve and pass on the reality and lessons to future generations.”
Fierce battle and civilian deaths
US troops landed on the main Okinawa island on April 1, 1945, beginning a battle in their push toward mainland Japan.
The Battle of Okinawa lasted nearly three months, killing some 200,000 people — about 12,000 Americans and more than 188,000 Japanese, half of them Okinawan civilians including students and victims forced into mass suicides by Japan’s military.
Okinawa was sacrificed by Japan’s Imperial Army to defend the mainland, historians say. The island group remained under US occupation until its reversion in 1972, two decades longer than most of Japan.
Monday’s memorial was held at the Mabuni Hill in Itoman City, where the remains of most of the war dead reside.
Remembering the tragedy
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was in a hot seat when he attended Monday’s ceremony. Weeks earlier, one of his ruling party lawmakers Shoji Nishida, known for whitewashing Japan’s wartime atrocities, denounced an inscription on a famous cenotaph dedicated to students as “rewriting history” by portraying the Japanese army as having caused their deaths, while Americans liberated Okinawa. Nishida also called Okinawa’s history education “a mess.”
His remark triggered an uproar in Okinawa, forcing Ishiba days later to apologize to the island’s governor, who had criticized the remark as outrageous and distorting history.
The Himeyuri Cenotaph commemorates student nurses who were abandoned near the end of the battle and killed, some in group suicides with teachers. Japan’s wartime military told the people never to surrender to the enemy, or die.
Nishida’s remarks add to concerns about the whitewashing of Japan’s embarrassing wartime past as memories of the tragedy fade and ignorance about the suffering grows.
Ishiba, at Monday’s memorial, said Japan’s peace and prosperity is built on the sacrifices of Okinawa’s history of hardship and that it is the government’s responsibility to “devote ourselves to achieve a peaceful and prosperous Okinawa.”
Postwar years and growing fear
Okinawa remained under US occupation from 1945 until the 1972 reversion to Japan. The US military maintains a heavy presence there due to Okinawa’s strategic importance for security in the Pacific. Their presence serves not only to help defend Japan but also for missions elsewhere, including in the South China Sea and the Middle East.
Private properties were confiscated to build US bases, and the base-dependent economy has hampered the growth of local industry.
Fear of a Taiwan conflict rekindles bitter memories of the Battle of Okinawa. Historians and many residents say Okinawa was used as a pawn to save mainland Japan.
There are also ancient tensions between Okinawa and the Japanese mainland, which annexed the islands, formerly the independent kingdom of the Ryukus, in 1879.
Burden of history
Okinawa remains home to the majority of about 50,000 US troops stationed in Japan under a bilateral security pact. The island, which accounts for only 0.6 percent of Japanese land, hosts 70 percent of US military facilities.
Even 53 years after its reversion to Japan, Okinawa is burdened with the heavy US presence and faces noise, pollution, aircraft accidents and crime related to American troops, the governor said.
Nearly 2,000 tons of unexploded US bombs remain in Okinawa, with some regularly dug up. A recent explosion at a storage site at a US military base caused minor injuries to four Japanese soldiers.
Remains of hundreds of war dead are still unrecovered on Okinawa, as the government’s search and identification effort is slow to make progress.
Pakistan condemns Trump for bombing Iran a day after recommending him for a Nobel Peace Prize
- Pakistan condemned the US for attacking Iran, saying the strikes “constituted a serious violation of international law” and the statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan condemned US President Donald Trump for bombing Iran, less than 24 hours after saying he deserved a Nobel Peace Prize for defusing a recent crisis with India.
Relations between the two South Asian countries plummeted after a massacre of tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir in April. The nuclear-armed rivals stepped closer to war in the weeks that followed, attacking each other until intense diplomatic efforts, led by the US, resulted in a truce for which Trump took credit.
It was this “decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership” that Pakistan praised in an effusive message Saturday night on the X platform when it announced its formal recommendation for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Less than 24 hours later, however, it condemned the US for attacking Iran, saying the strikes “constituted a serious violation of international law” and the statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a phone call Sunday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, expressed his concern that the bombings had targeted facilities that were under the safeguards of the IAEA. Pakistan has close ties with Iran and supports its attacks on Israel, saying it has the right to self-defense.
There was no immediate comment on Monday from Islamabad about the Trump Nobel recommendation, which also followed a high-profile White House lunch meeting between the president and Pakistan’s powerful army chief, Asim Munir.
Thursday’s meeting, which lasted more than two hours, was also attended by the Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, the US Special Representative for Middle Eastern Affairs.
According to a Pakistani military statement, a detailed exchange of views took place on the “prevailing tensions between Iran and Israel, with both leaders emphasizing the importance of the resolution of the conflict.”
While Pakistan was quick to thank Trump for his intervention in its crisis with India, New Delhi played it down and said there was no need for external mediation on the Kashmir issue.
The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between Pakistan and India but claimed by both in its entirety. India accuses Pakistan of backing militant groups in the region, which Pakistan denies.
