NEW After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
North Korea discussed assigning additional duties to its frontline army units at a key military meeting, state media said Thursday, a suggestion the country may want to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons targeting South Korea along the rivals' tense border.
The discussion comes as South Korea officials said North Korea has finished preparation for its first nuclear test in five years as part of its possible efforts to build a warhead to be mounted on short-range weapons capable of hitting targets in South Korea.
During an ongoing meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers' Party on Wednesday, leader Kim Jong Un and other top military officers discussed "the work of additionally confirming the operation duties of the frontline units of the Korean People's Army and modifying the operation plans," according to the official Korean Central News Agency.
Kim also ordered steps to be taken to "enhance the operational capabilities of the frontline units," KCNA said. A KCNA photo showed what appeared to be a big map of the Korean Peninsula's eastern coast including border sites standing near the conference table.
"I can assess the issue of forward-deploying tactical nuclear weapons were discussed at the meeting in an in-depth manner," said Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea's private Sejong Institute.
Kim Jun-rak, a spokesperson for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters later Thursday that it's closely monitoring related North Korean activities but didn't elaborate.
In April, when North Korea test-fired a new type of tactical guided weapon," it said the weapon has "great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the front-line long-range artillery units, enhancing the efficiency in the operation of (North Korea's) tactical nukes and diversification of their firepower missions."
Its use of the words "tactical nukes" suggested the weapon is likely a short-range weapons system armed with a nuclear warhead. Some experts said at the time that North Korea intended to deploy such weapons threatening key facilitates in South Korea, including U.S. military bases there.
Later in April, Kim said North Korea could preemptively use its nuclear weapons if threatened, saying his nukes would "never be confined to the single mission of war deterrent" in situations where the North faces external threats to its "fundamental interests." The possibility of North Korea having an escalatory nuclear doctrine could pose greater concern for South Korea, Japan and the United States.
Kim convened the Central Military Commission meeting earlier this week to confirm "crucial and urgent tasks" to expand military capabilities and implement key defense policies, state media said.
Cheong, the analyst, said North Korea is expected to preform its seventh nuclear test after the meeting, saying that its third nuclear test in 2013 also came days after another Central Military Commission meeting.
Before this week's meeting, Kim had convened a meeting of the Central Military Commission 16 times since he took power in late 2011 but this is the first lasting two days or longer, Cheong said.
Wednesday was the second-day session, and KCNA said discussions were continuing on the agenda, indicating the meeting would continue on Thursday.
Earlier this year, North Korea test-launched a spate of missiles with potential ranges placing both the U.S. mainland and its Asian allies like South Korea and Japan within striking distances. North Korea has intercontinental ballistic missiles potentially capable of reaching the United States, but experts say the country still needs to master reentry capability and other technologies to make them functioning weapons.
Some experts say the North's weapons launches were meant to modernize its weapons systems and boost its leverage in future negotiations with the United States to win sanctions relief and other concessions.
South Korean and U.S. officials have warned North Korea to face consequences if it goes ahead with a nuclear test. But the divisions between permanent members of the U.N. Security Council make the prospects for fresh punitive international sanctions on North Korea unclear. Russia and China this year vetoed U.S.-sponsored resolutions that would have increased sanctions, insisting Washington should focus on reviving dialogue.
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
An apparent Israeli drone attack on Iran saw troops fire air defences at a major air base and a nuclear site early Friday morning near the central city of Isfahan, an assault coming in retaliation for Tehran's unprecedented drone-and-missile assault on the country.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Canadian banks that refuse to identify the carbon rebate by name when doing direct deposits are forcing the government to change the law to make them do it, says Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault.
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
Colin Jost, who co-anchors Saturday Night Live's 'Weekend Update,' revealed who he thinks is one of the best hosts on the show.
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.