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Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at North Korea’s ballistic missile might, a slew of truce proposals for the Middle East, and Typhoon Kong-rey hitting Taiwan.
A Show of Strength
North Korea’s latest long-range missile test has the country’s Indo-Pacific neighbors and Western adversaries angry—and nervous. Pyongyang tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday, surpassing its previous flight time record to reach 87 minutes. Launched from near the country’s capital, the weapon traveled roughly 620 miles before splashing down just 125 miles west of Japan’s Okushiri Island.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at North Korea’s ballistic missile might, a slew of truce proposals for the Middle East, and Typhoon Kong-rey hitting Taiwan.
A Show of Strength
North Korea’s latest long-range missile test has the country’s Indo-Pacific neighbors and Western adversaries angry—and nervous. Pyongyang tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Thursday, surpassing its previous flight time record to reach 87 minutes. Launched from near the country’s capital, the weapon traveled roughly 620 miles before splashing down just 125 miles west of Japan’s Okushiri Island.
According to Japan’s Defense Ministry, the missile launched at a “very high” angle, reaching an altitude of roughly 4,350 miles. This means that, in theory, the weapon could have flown much farther. North Korea’s last ICBM test in December 2023 flew for 73 minutes, translating to a potential range of around 9,320 miles on a normal trajectory and putting anywhere in the mainland United States within range of attack.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un painted Thursday’s launch as a warning to Pyongyang’s enemies. However, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said the test “did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, or territory, or to our allies.” Savett did, though, condemn the action as a “flagrant violation” of several United Nations Security Council resolutions. “It only demonstrates that [North Korea] continues to prioritize its unlawful weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs over the well-being of its people,” he said in a statement.
Analysts viewed Pyongyang’s launch as a means of showing strength ahead of the U.S. presidential election next Tuesday. Japan and South Korea also condemned the test, with Seoul announcing new export controls on materials that North Korea needs to produce solid-fuel missiles. North Korea is estimated to have around 50 “stored” nuclear warheads, meaning they are not actively deployed.
South Korea has repeatedly warned against its neighbor’s growing military capabilities. It has specifically cited the more than 10,000 North Korean troops currently stationed in Russia as evidence that Pyongyang is helping Moscow to fight Ukraine in exchange for valuable combat experience and technology transfers—such as tactical nuclear weapons, ICBMs, ballistic missile submarines, and military reconnaissance satellites—that could threaten the Korean Peninsula.
The timing of Thursday’s launch also coincided with 2+2 meetings in Washington, where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met with their South Korean counterparts, Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, to discuss Pyongyang’s emerging role in the Russia-Ukraine war.
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What We’re Following
Truce options. Senior Biden administration officials traveled to the Middle East on Thursday to discuss ongoing cease-fire negotiations for Gaza and Lebanon. Brett McGurk, the U.S. National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East, and Amos Hochstein, a U.S. special envoy focused on Lebanon, flew to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while the head of U.S. Central Command, Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, embarked for the Middle East to discuss regional defense and CIA Director William Burns arrived in Cairo.
According to leaked documents published by Israel’s public broadcaster on Wednesday, Washington has proposed a 60-day cease-fire that would see Israeli forces agree to a phased withdrawal from southern Lebanon within the first week and the Lebanese army dismantle and confiscate all nonstate military infrastructure in southern Lebanon during the 60-day period. The hope is that a two-month window would allow all sides the time needed to negotiate a permanent end to the conflict.
It is unclear if Israel or Hezbollah will agree to the draft proposal. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said on Wednesday that he hoped a truce with Israel would be announced within days.
At the same time, a slew of other truce proposals remain on the table. They include a three-day cease-fire draft for Lebanon, a short-term pause in fighting for Gaza tied to the exchange of female Israeli hostages for some Palestinian prisoners, and an Egyptian-backed 48-hour truce in Gaza that would release four Israeli captives for several Palestinian prisoners. “The agreements, the papers, the proposals, the numbers [U.N. Security Council Resolutions] 1509, 1701—all these have their place, but they are not the main thing,” Netanyahu said on Thursday, adding that Israel’s security remains paramount in its goals.
Destructive storm. Typhoon Kong-rey made landfall in Taiwan on Thursday, bringing fierce winds reaching the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. It is the most powerful storm to hit the island in nearly 30 years. Already, at least one person was killed and more than 200 injured. Local authorities urged residents to stay home, and Taipei has put 36,000 troops on standby to assist rescue efforts. More than 11,900 people across 14 cities and counties have been evacuated, according to Taiwan’s Interior Ministry.
Among top concerns, officials worked on Thursday to prevent oil from leaking out of a Chinese cargo ship after the vessel lost power in the vicious weather and beached on Taiwan’s northern coast. State-owned utility Taiwan Power has reported power outages in half a million households, authorities closed Taiwan’s financial markets and schools, and hundreds of flights were canceled due to high winds.
High taxes. British Treasury chief Rachel Reeves raised taxes on Wednesday by around $52 billion to fund public services, including around $32 billion to the National Health Service. “Today, I am restoring stability to our public finances and rebuilding our public services,” Reeves said. The tax increases are part of the Labour Party’s first budget since it took power in July, and they will raise the country’s annual GDP to a record-high 38.3 percent by the 2027-28 fiscal year.
Reeves has insisted that the majority of the tax burden will be placed on wealthy individuals and business owners, though smaller companies should not be affected as she doubled an allowance to help offset their liability. She also changed the nation’s debt rules to encourage more investments and reverse the economic “black hole” left by the previous Conservative government. “The British people have inherited their failure,” Reeves accused the former administration.
The decision sparked major selloffs in the gilt market on Thursday as the new budget prompted fears of slower interest rate cuts.
Odds and Ends
Google may need to consider a payment plan for the latest allegations against it. On Wednesday, Russia fined the company $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000—a sum worth more than the world’s entire GDP put together. The 37-digit figure, otherwise known as 2 undecillion rubles, aims to punish Google for blocking content from 17 Russian TV stations and media outlets on YouTube, which Google owns. But even the Kremlin on Thursday admitted that the fine is more of a symbolic gesture than one expected to be paid off. Phew.