SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Saturday broadcast a series of mysterious numbers, presumed to be an encrypted message to its spies in the South, for the first time on YouTube.
A video clip was posted on the state-run Radio Pyongyang's YouTube account, in which a female announcer read what she described as "an information technology review assignment of the remote education university for No. 719 expedition agents."
She repeated phrases such as "No. 23 on Page 564, No. 19 on Page 479" for about one minute in the post, which had been viewed 2,500 times as of 11 a.m. The numbers were not broadcast on the radio.
This image, captured from the YouTube account of North Korea's Radio Pyongyang, shows a video clip broadcasting a series of mysterious numbers, presumed to be an encrypted message sent by North Korea to its spies in the South, for the first time on YouTube. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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North Korea has broadcast such seemingly random numbers via radio since the Cold War era, as recently as March 7 and 13.
But this is the first time that Pyongyang has used the global video-sharing platform to send the apparently coded messages.
The video attracted more than 10,000 views, but it was later deleted for unknown reasons.
Pyongyang had suspended such broadcasts in 2000, when the two Koreas held a historic summit, and resumed them in June 2016, when South Korea was ruled by then-conservative President Park Geun-hye.
Experts were divided over whether the North's broadcasts were aimed at sending instructions for espionage missions. Some analysts said the move was a deceptive strategy aimed at sparking tension within South Korea.
SEOUL, Aug. 27 (Yonhap) -- Typhoon Bavi made landfall in North Korea, snapping trees and causing flooding and other damage, state media outlets reported Thursday.
The North's state TV station earlier aired footage of broken trees, fallen electricity poles, inundated streets, and damaged homes and facilities in towns along its western coastline bearing the brunt of the eighth typhoon of the season.
"Strong winds are blowing in Ongjin County, Kangryong County and Haeju City of South Hwanghae Province, and along the southwestern coastline," a county official told the TV station.
Typhoon Bavi touched down on the Ongjin Peninsula of South Hwanghae Province at around 5:30 a.m. North Korea expected the typhoon to make its way near Pyongyang at around 9 a.m., causing wind gusts of 15-20 meters per second in the capital.
North Korea has been vigilant as the typhoon was on its way to the Korean Peninsula amid fears that it could be stronger than Typhoon Lingling that devastated many areas of the country.
North Korea earlier said it evacuated ships along its western coastline and beefed up monitoring of key industrial facilities to minimize damage.
The typhoon couldn't come at a worse time as the country is already facing multiple challenges, including the fallout from its protracted antivirus campaign and floods caused by recent heavy downpours.
On Tuesday, leader Kim Jong-un held a politburo meeting and discussed ways to cushion the impact from the approaching typhoon.
Kim called the efforts to "thoroughly prevent the casualties by typhoon and minimize the damage to the crops is an important work which can never be neglected even a moment for our Party."
This photo, captured from North Korea's Central TV, shows broken trees in Hwanghae Province caused by the mighty Typhoon Bavi, in the broadcaster's overnight live report on Aug. 27, 2020. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
Image copyrightAFPImage captionIncendiary balloons launched from Gaza have caused dozens of fires in Israel in recent days
Israeli leaders have warned Hamas that it risks a major escalation in the Gaza Strip by failing to stop cross-border rocket and incendiary balloon attacks.
Defence Minister Benny Gantz said the Palestinian group, which controls Gaza, would "suffer a very severe blow".
However, a Hamas spokesman vowed it would "not hesitate to enter battle if Israel's attacks and siege continue".
Overnight, militants fired 12 rockets towards Israel and Israeli warplanes conducted three rounds of air strikes. (20-21 Aug)
Since last week, a number of rockets have been launched from Gaza along with hundreds of balloons with explosives and incendiary devices attached that have caused dozens of fires in southern Israel.
Israel has responded by bombing what it says are Hamas military targets in Gaza.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionIsrael has responded to the attacks by bombing what it says are militant targets
Israel has also banned fishing boats from going out to sea and is only allowing humanitarian goods through Gaza's one commercial crossing.
With no fuel deliveries, the sole power plant in Gaza has shut.
That has left the territory's population of 1.9 million with about four hours of electricity a day, down from eight hours.
Image copyrightEPAImage captionThe sole power plant in Gaza was forced to shut down earlier this week
The number of rockets fired from Gaza on Thursday night and early Friday was the largest in 24 hours since the latest round of violence began.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said nine of the 12 projectiles were intercepted.
Israeli media cited emergency services as saying three people were treated for shock after a house in Sderot was damaged by an unexploded rocket, while a woman was hurt while running to safety.
The IDF said it responded by striking a Hamas military compound used for rocket ammunition manufacturing and "underground terror infrastructure" in Gaza.
The Hamas-run health ministry in the territory did not report any casualties.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionA house in the Israeli town of Sderot was damaged, reportedly by an unexploded rocket
After being briefed by Israeli commanders on Friday, Mr Gantz said: "The IDF is prepared, defending and will continue to protect the residents of the south, attack those attacking us, and inflict very severe damage on them."
"The residents of Gaza," he added, "are suffering because of Hamas."
Armed Palestinians factions in Gaza, of which Hamas is a part, took joint responsibility for the rocket fire, saying they had "responded and will respond to any attack against the Palestinian people".
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionIsrael's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted rockets near Ashkelon on Sunday
Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said the group "will not hesitate to fight a battle with the enemy if the escalation continues, if the bombardments and the blockade continue".
"If the Israeli occupation continues its aggression... it must pay the price," he added.
Egyptian mediators have had talks in Gaza and Israel on restoring calm.
Analysts say Hamas is trying to pressure Israel to ease its blockade of Gaza and to secure more financial aid from Qatar.
Israel and Egypt imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Gaza when Hamas reinforced its power over the territory in 2007 by ousting its rivals, a year after winning legislative elections. The two countries say the blockade is for self-defence.
Imagine the house next door is on fire and there is no fire brigade to call on to avert an imminent disaster about to engulf you and your family.
That is how Egypt has viewed Libya since the brutal end of former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and his regime in 2011.
Libya has no properly functioning state institutions, no unified army or security forces to speak of, and, crucially, no border guards on its side of their porous 1,100km (685-mile) long desert border. Plus the country is awash with weapons.
The fire began to spill over when Libyans failed to agree on a path forward, militias of all kinds proliferated, jihadists resurfaced to pursue their dream of creating an Islamic state in Libya and beyond.
Egypt - which overthrew Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013, and jailed him and other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood - became a prime target:
In June 2014, smugglers killed six Egyptian border guards
In 2017, a group of jihadists crossed into Egyptian territory and attacked a security checkpoint, killing 16 soldiers and wounding 13 others
Inside Libya itself, Egyptian labourers were targeted. In 2015 militants from the Islamic State group kidnapped and beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians, apparently in retaliation for the removal from power of President Morsi.
Post-Gaddafi Libya was quickly caught up in the chasm that has polarised and paralysed politics in nearly the whole of the Middle East and North Africa.
It is the struggle between the advocates of political Islam, foremost among which is the transnational Muslim Brotherhood and its many offshoots, and secular or quasi-secular forces and old-fashioned nationalists.
A UN-brokered deal that set up a provisional government in Tripoli failed to disarm the militias or achieve the national reconciliation it was created for.
Turkey, the turning point
As Libya fractured between an Islamist-dominated west and anti-Islamist east - it was only natural for Egypt, which had declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, to throw its weight behind the man who had declared war on the Islamists in Libya, Gen Khalifa Haftar.
He had fought them and cleared Benghazi and other major urban centres in the east and south of Islamist militants.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionGen Haftar's forces have been beaten back since Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan intervened in the conflict
For the past six years, Egypt's main goal had been to contain the fire within Libyan borders by giving covert support for Gen Haftar.
But things took a dramatic turn late last year when Turkey - the biggest supporter of political Islam in the region - decided to throw its weight behind the beleaguered UN-brokered government.
It offered technical and military support which eventually helped it to stop the advance of Gen Haftar's troops to capture Tripoli.
More on Libya's crisis:
Media captionWhat's behind the fight for Libya?
Encouraged by its gains on the battlefield, the Turkish-backed Tripoli administration vowed to march on to capture the rest of the country and defeat Gen Haftar totally.
Alarmed by reports of Turkey transferring thousands of battle-hardened Syrian mercenaries and jihadists to Tripoli and setting up Turkish bases in western Libya, Cairo felt it had no other option but to respond.
In June, after inspecting rows of tanks and rocket launchers and watching an air force display with his top military brass in a base near the border with Libya, Egypt's President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi made a dramatic announcement.
'Red line'
Striking a pan-Arab chord, he said that given the historical ties between the peoples of Libya and Egypt, Cairo had a legitimate right to intervene to defend the national interests of the two nations against "foreign schemes".
There was no explicit reference to Turkey, but everyone understood what he was referring to. A Libyan delegation of tribal leaders in the auditorium cheered him on.
President Sisi had drawn a line in the sand - between Sirte on the Mediterranean and the area around the Jufra airbase in central Libya - as Egypt's "red line".
Any attempt to cross that by the militias loyal to Tripoli would be a direct threat to national security, he said.
A few days later, Egypt's parliament rubber-stamped a mandate for the president, who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces, to deploy troops as he saw fit.
The Tripoli-based administration reacted angrily to President Sisis's threat of military intervention, describing it as a "declaration of war".
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionPresident Sisi (L), who is supreme commander of Egypt's armed forces, now has permission to deploy troops to Libya if he wants
Is this a serious threat or just sabre rattling?
Observers outside Egypt were quick to raise questions about the Egyptian army and its capabilities.
But at home public discussion of the military and its performance is strictly forbidden.
Local media applauded the president and hailed the Egyptian army as one of the strongest in the world, even comparing it to the Turkish military, with the usual dose of vitriol levelled against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Libyan "stooges" in Tripoli.
Unenviable dilemma
However, a few moderate voices urged caution out of fear that Egypt might get sucked into the Libyan quagmire.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionSome are concerned about Egypt's conventional army becoming bogged down in militia warfare
It is reasonable to assume that the Egyptian military is wary of intervention, not least because of what the long supply lines which would be needed between Egypt and central Libya - the scene of any eventual confrontation
There is also concern that what might start as a surgical intervention could quickly develop into a military morass in Libya's unwinnable civil war.
The observers also noted that the Egyptian military has not had any battlefield experience since 1973 and its last war against Israel along the Suez Canal and the Sinai desert.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionEgypt's President Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Islamists nearly 40 years ago, visiting army positions in 1973
Its most recent experience of fighting against Islamist militants in northern Sinai is not particularly impressive.
A war in the Libyan desert between a conventional army and a plethora of militias may prove even more difficult.
Yet having made the announcement and drawn its line in the sand, Egypt finds itself with an unenviable dilemma:
To act early to pre-empt any potential attempt to capture Jufra and Sirte, which may provoke the very war the threat of intervention sought to deter
Or wait till the other side crosses that line, which may prove disastrously late for Egypt and its Libyan allies.
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