- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
- Sabalenka targets world number one and Wuhan hat-trick
- Tunisia votes with Saied set for re-election
- Bagnaia sets 'example' with Japan MotoGP win to cut gap on Martin
- Intense Israeli bombing rocks Beirut ahead of war anniversary
- Mozambique vote: no suspense but some disillusion
- Austrian rapper channels anti-racist rage in Romani hip-hop songs
- Ohtani magic powers Dodgers over Padres in MLB playoff thriller
- Five of the best: Pakistan-England Test thrillers
- Man sets arm on fire as marches across US mark Gaza war anniversary
- Vietnam's young coffee entrepreneurs brew up a revolution
- Trump rallies at site of failed assassination: 'Never quit'
- Too hot by day, Dubai's floodlit beaches are packed at night
- Is music finally reckoning with #MeToo?
- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
South Korea's new president set to get tough on North
South Korea's hawkish new president will be sworn in Tuesday, and he looks set to get tough with Pyongyang, departing from what he has called the "subservient" approach of his predecessor.
For the past five years, Seoul has pursued a policy of engagement with North Korea, brokering summits between Kim Jong Un and then-US president Donald Trump while reducing joint US military drills Pyongyang sees as provocative.
But talks collapsed in 2019 and have languished since, while the nuclear-armed North has dramatically ramped up weapons tests, conducting 14 so far this year, including the launch of its largest-ever intercontinental ballistic missile.
Unlike outgoing President Moon Jae-in, who saw North Korea as a negotiating partner, incoming leader Yoon Suk-yeol sees the country as an adversary, said Cheong Seong-chang of the Center for North Korea Studies at the Sejong Institute.
Yoon has pledged to officially define Pyongyang as South Korea's "principal enemy", Cheong added, and has not ruled out pre-emptive strikes on the North.
This hard-line stance appears to have already annoyed Pyongyang.
On Thursday, North Korean propaganda website Uriminzokkiri said Yoon was stirring up "confrontational madness" and it was "preposterous" for him to discuss pre-emptive strikes.
- Rough ride -
Moon, who met Kim four times while in office, sought to avoid harsh rhetorical exchanges with Pyongyang, prioritising engagement.
But Cheong warned of a rough ride ahead and said he expected no summits.
Instead of delicate diplomacy, Yoon wants the "complete and verifiable denuclearisation" of North Korea -- something that is anathema to Kim, said Hong Min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification.
Calling for Kim to give up his nukes first is "too high a hurdle for the North to accept" and looks set to put a final nail in the coffin of Moon's cherished programme of engagement, Hong told AFP.
Avowed anti-feminist Yoon won the election in March by the narrowest margin ever, and has since backed off some of his more explosive domestic campaign promises, chiefly his vow to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality.
His firmer approach to North Korea, however, is already apparent: after Pyongyang test-fired a ballistic missile Wednesday, Yoon's team called it a "provocation".
On the campaign trail, Yoon called Kim a "rude boy" and told voters earlier this year: "If you give me a chance, I will teach him some manners."
His language harks back to 2017's "fire and fury" era, when Kim and Trump traded insults through Twitter and state media.
South Korean activists also claim to have restarted sending propaganda balloons across the border, something Moon banned during his term.
- Testing, testing -
In addition to a record-breaking blitz of weapons tests, Kim said last month he would boost North Korea's nuclear arsenal at the "fastest possible speed".
Satellite images now indicate Pyongyang may be preparing to resume nuclear tests -- paused since 2017.
While North Korea's weapons tests are primarily aimed at improving military capabilities, the regime also needs to avoid showing weakness during its pandemic isolation and sanctions-related economic woes, analysts said.
"Pyongyang is signalling to the incoming administration in Seoul that resource constraints will not prevent it from waging a competitive arms build-up," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.
South Korea's conventional capacity outstrips that of the North, and Yoon has called for more US military assets to be deployed in the South, a topic likely to be on the agenda when US President Joe Biden visits Seoul later this month.
By timing weapons tests around Yoon's inauguration and Biden's visit, Kim could be hoping to pile on the pressure, said Mason Richey, associate professor of international politics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
Kim may be aiming to "make Yoon's hardline approach to North Korea harder to sell domestically", he added.
A.Seabra--PC