Tag - weapons

 
 

WEAPONS

Military vehicles carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles during a military parade in Beijing in 2019
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 5, 2024
Fear and ambition propel Xi’s nuclear acceleration
As China’s arsenal grows, its military looks to warheads as both defensive shield and potential sword — to intimidate and subjugate adversaries.
The title monster in “Godzilla Minus One” is a threat, of course, but the real story is about finding community in the wake of destruction.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 3, 2024
‘Godzilla Minus One’ stomps into ‘Oppenheimer’ territory
Those movies, along with “The Boy and the Heron,” are essentially in conversation about the moral weight of American and Japanese actions in World War II.
A news broadcast showing at a railway station in Seoul on Tuesday shows footage of a previous North Korean missile launch.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 2, 2024
North Korea fires missiles as Kim seeks ‘war preparation’ boost
Kim is likely using the tests to show he many ways to launch a strike, adding to the planning contingencies for the U.S. and its allies in the region.
A news broadcast shows a North Korean missile test at the main railway station in Seoul on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 28, 2024
North Korea fires multiple cruise missiles toward Sea of Japan
The latest launches come days after Pyongyang test-fired a new type of cruise missile and amid fears that leader Kim Jong Un could be girding for war.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a munitions factory at an undisclosed location in this picture released on Jan. 10.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 26, 2024
Is North Korea's Kim preparing for an actual war?
Some believe he may be disillusioned with diplomacy and is girding for conflict; others think the provocations are timed to coincide with U.S. and South Korean elections.
Melissa Parke, executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, speaks during an interview in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2024
ICAN chief urges Japan to recognize nuke ban and not fear U.S. reaction
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, as of the start of 2023, nine nuclear powers possessed an estimated 12,512 nuclear weapons.
An intermediate-range ballistic missile, said to be solid-fueled, is launched during a test at an unspecified location in North Korea in this picture released Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jan 15, 2024
Test of latest North Korean weapon adds to threat facing Japan
Pyongyang said the missile was “loaded with a hypersonic maneuverable controlled warhead" that experts say is capable of evading defenses.
People watch a television screen showing  file footage of a North Korean missile test, at the main railway station in Seoul on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 14, 2024
In first launch of 2024, North Korea tests intermediate-range missile
The South Korean military said the launch was of an IRBM-class weapon, which is believed to have a range of up to 5,000 kilometers.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a munitions factory at an undisclosed location in this picture released Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 10, 2024
North Korea's Kim calls South ‘principal enemy,’ turning up heat
Kim pledged he was ready to fight a war but had no intention of starting one. Tensions have soared after the North fired artillery near the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong.
South Korean residents walk past a shelter sign at a village on Yeonpyeong Island on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jan 7, 2024
South Korean border island warns residents on third day of North Korean drills
The drills come after the powerful sister of North Korea's leader denied Seoul's claims that Pyongyang had fired dozens of artillery rounds near their border a day earlier.
The Atomic Bomb Dome at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
JAPAN / History
Jan 7, 2024
English-language Hiroshima Peace Declaration book published
With over 400 footnotes explaining different words and idioms, the book can be a great way for for 'global citizens' to learn English.
Kim Yung-ho
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 6, 2024
South Korean official says U.S. troops likely to stay even if Trump is re-elected
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho said this was the case because the U.S. Congress had already decided the matter in a defense bill it recently passed.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets with commanders of the Korean People's Army in Pyongyang in this undated picture released Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 1, 2024
Kim tells army to 'annihilate' South Korea and U.S. if they initiate conflict
The North Korean leader told his top military officers to use maximum force against South Korea and the United States in event of war.
People line up to enter the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum in the city of Hiroshima on Aug. 14.
JAPAN
Dec 29, 2023
Hiroshima museum eyes online ticketing to ease congestion
The surge in visitors to the museum is apparently attributable chiefly to the effects of the Group of Seven summit held in the city in May.
Ohkawara Kakohki President Masaaki Okawara speaks to reporters in front of the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday following a ruling ordering the government to pay damages.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Dec 27, 2023
Tokyo court rules executives of spray dryer firm were wrongly indicted
The case involving Ohkawara Kakohki, a Yokohama-based manufacturer, has once again highlighted problems in the nation’s criminal justice system.
A Russian Air Force Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber
WORLD / Politics
Dec 20, 2023
Putin says Russia’s nuclear arsenal is near fully modernized
The proportion of modern weaponry in its nuclear forces this year "has been brought to 95% and in the naval component almost 100%,” he said.
A mobile missile launcher awaits the order to fire a Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile from an undisclosed location in North Korea in this undated picture released Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 19, 2023
Japan, South Korea, U.S. begin sharing real-time data on North Korean missiles
The data-sharing system was activated as Pyongyang confirmed that it tested a solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile a day earlier.
A woman walks past a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at the main railway station in Seoul on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 18, 2023
North Korea launches long-range ballistic missile for fifth time in 2023
Japan said the missile was estimated to have a range of 15,000 kilometers, putting the entire U.S. within striking distance.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during an event in Pyongyang in a photo released Dec. 5.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 16, 2023
U.S. and South Korea to draw up joint nuclear defense guideline
Washington and Seoul have decided to complete a comprehensive guideline by next year on how to contain and respond to Pyongyang's nuclear threat.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a meeting in Nagasaki on Saturday
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2023
Kishida vows increased effort to achieve nuke-free world
At a meeting in Nagasaki, the prime minister called nuclear disarmament a "common ideal of humanity."

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals