S Korea

In the poll of 2,521 voters conducted by Realmeter from October 31 to November 4, 34.2 per cent positively assessed Yoon's job performance, down 1.5 percentage points from the previous week, reports Yonhap News Agency.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missile firing from a site in or around the North's eastern coastal city of Wonsan was detected at around 8.51 a.m., reports Yonhap News Agency. One of the three SRBMs fell into high seas 26 km south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), an area 57 km east of the South's eastern city of Sokcho and 167 km northwest of Ulleung Island near Dokdo.

A spokesman at the North's Foreign Ministry denounced the ongoing combined air drills by the allies, called Vigilant Storm, as "ceaseless and reckless" military provocations, reports Yonhap News Agency. The exercise is "a war drill for aggression mainly aimed at striking the strategic targets of the DPRK in case of contingency in the Korean Peninsula", the spokesman said in a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

"We grieve with the people of South Korea and send our best wishes for a quick recovery to all those who were injured," US President Joe Biden said in a statement on Sunday. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a tweet, "All our thoughts are with those currently responding and all South Koreans at this very distressing time."

The deadliest stampede in South Korea's history happened on Saturday night in a narrow downhill alley near Hamilton Hotel in the famous nightlife district after tens of thousands of people visited the area for Halloween, Yonhap news agency reported. As of 9 a.m. Sunday, a total of 151 people, including 19 foreigners, have been killed and 82 others injured, 19 of them seriously, according to Choi Seong-beom.

A total of 46 people were confirmed dead at the scene, and the remaining 13 were pronounced dead after they were sent to hospitals, officials said, Yonhap news agency reported. Choi Seong-beom, head of the fire department in Yongsan, which includes Itaewon, told reporters there were a large number of casualties during Halloween festivities.

A North Korean merchant vessel violated the NLL in waters near the front-line island of Baengnyeong at 3.42 a.m. and it retreated northwards after the South's Navy issued warning messages and fired some 20 rounds of warning shots, according to the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

Ji Min Sha, a 22-year-old cybersecurity major from Seoul, South Korea, faces one count of murder in the killing of Varun Manish Chheda, 20, from Indianapolis earlier this month. Sha could face 45-60 years behind bars if convicted of the one count of murder. He is being held without bond.

In a statement, North Korea's National Aviation Administration (NAA) said: "The missile test launch by the DPRK is a regular and planned self-defensive step for defending the country's security and the regional peace from the US direct military threats that have lasted for more than half a century."

Kim Gunn, special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and his American counterpart, Sung Kim, voiced "serious concerns" over Pyongyang's test-firing of two short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) earlier in the day. The provocation came two days after the launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over Japan, Yonhap news agency reported.