North Korea To Launch Missile Within Few Days

North Korea has been preparing to launch another ballistic missile in the next three days. This was according to an unconfirmed report by Fox Business News.

Officials from South Korea said they are closely monitoring the activity of its neighbour, especially its military manoeuvres.

The Unification and Defense Ministry spokesperson told reporters on Wednesday, “I could say the government is fully prepared for possible various kinds of North Korean provocations and has been paying sharp attention to relevant movements.”

On October 20, North Korea tried to launch an intermediate-range Musudan missile, reports show the test failed after launch.

According to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, the intermediate-range Musudan missile has a lethal range of 1,500 to 2,500 miles. This is enough to threaten neighboring allied bases in South Korea, Japan, and Guam.

North Korea has been making “provocative” moves recently, firing ballistic missiles and developing nuclear warheads. Moreover, they have ignored U.N. sanctions to stop them from developing weapons of mass destruction.

On Tuesday, Ambassador Joseph Yun, a U.S. State Department Special Representative for North Korea Policy had a bilateral meeting with South Korean Foreign Ministry representative Kim Hong-Kyun. They discussed North Korea’s recent provocative moves.

The two officials also talked about a new U.N. Security Council resolution aimed to sanction North Korea and to improve the two countries mutual ties.

“We affirmed that hastily insisting on the need for dialogue is not helpful in solving the North Korean nuclear issue and that the most important thing was to proceed with further strengthening sanctions and pressure against North Korea,” the South Korea Minister said.

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Samsung Offers Monetary Incentives to Halt Note 7 Losses

On Thursday, Samsung Electronics offered monetary incentives for customers in South Korea. These are for consumers who trade in their Galaxy Note 7 smartphones for other Samsung Models. The company rushes to shore up its name in the heels of a destructive safety disaster.

The South Korean giant is in damage-control mode as rivals Apple and LG Electronics attempt to steal market share from the global smartphone leader following the scrapping of its latest flagship device.

See Related Article: Samsung Temporarily Halts Note 7 Production

The company is enhancing its marketing and promotional efforts on the other Galaxy-series smartphones to soften the blow from the termination of the premium Note 7. The Note 7 was finally ditched this week after failing to put an end to overheating problems, which caused some of the phones to catch fire.

Samsung started distributing protective gloves and fireproof boxes to customers in the United States returning potentially explosive Note 7s.

In its home market, the smartphone manufacturer began to offer refunds or exchanges for other products. Customers who returned their Note 7s, which cost about $880, were offered a coupon worth 30,000 won ($26.91). Meanwhile, those who opted to swap fir another high-end smartphone will get an additional 70,000 won mobile credit.

Samsung said in a statement that the incentives would compensate consumers for their huge inconvenience.

Following days of heavy losses, Samsung shares had rebounded 2.4 % by 3:55 GMT in a flat broader market.

The firm cut its quarterly profit estimate on Wednesday by $2.3 billion to show the impact of the Note 7 withdrawal. This provides some investors hope that the monetary cost of the fiasco had been largely accounted for.

See Related Article: Q3 Profit Grew Amid Galaxy Note 7 Disaster for Samsung

The real damage is to Samsung’s reputation

However, several analysts acknowledge the real risk to South Korean conglomerate rests in the reputational damage it bears in a cut-throat industry.

The Note 7 letdown could challenge economic growth, South Korea’s central bank said. However, the institution said it needed more time to consider the effects.

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South Korea President to North Koreans: Come to ‘Bosom of Freedom’

South Korea’s President Park Geun-Hye made an extraordinary call to the people of North Korea. She directly exhorted their northern neighbors to defect.

Her speech included the mention of the “gruesome realities” the North Koreans endured every day.

The president said, “We will keep the road open for you to find hope and live a new life. Please come to the bosom of freedom in the South.”

Her remarks follow the recent defection of a North Korean soldier who traversed the heavily secured Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to get to the South.

In the speech performed t commemorate the South’s armed forces day, she further added:”The universal values of freedom, democracy, human rights and welfare are the precious rights you should also enjoy.”

Ms. Park also used the occasion to deliver a warning to Pyongyang concerning its nuclear and missile tests. She swore that South Korea would fight to defend itself.

It remains unclear whether the target audience would receive her invitation due to the tight control of the northern state over its media.

Heavily fortified strip of land

The DMZ has been in place since the cessation of the Korean war in 1953. It bisects the peninsula from east to west and its depth stretches 4km (2.5 miles). Barbed wire, landmines, gun positions, assorted cameras & sensors manned by thousands of troops from both sides, cover the zone.

This level of security at the DMZ makes for extremely rare defections across it. The incident such as Thursday’s was the first in more than a year.

The last one involved a teen-aged military trainee who approached South Korean sentries at the border.

The last one before that caused a major security revamp in 2012. A North Korean soldier bypassed all the electronic security measures without detection before presenting himself to his Southern counterparts.

Most of the almost 30,000 defectors since the 1950’s went through China. The South Korean government assists them in terms of integration. However, a number of them complain about discrimination and financial issues.

The persistent nuclear tests by the north despite international sanctions keep tensions high between the two Koreas.

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