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North Korea tests missiles ahead of U.S. election, says American actions warrant its nuclear weapons buildup
Seoul — North Korea fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles early Tuesday, Seoul’s military said. It was Pyongyang’s second launch in days and it came just hours before Americans were set to vote for a new president.
The nuclear-armed North last week test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). That was Kim Jong Un’s first weapons test since he was accused by U.S. and Ukrainian officials of sending soldiers to help support Russia’s ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
North Korea, which has denied the deployment, is under growing international pressure to withdraw its troops from Russia, with Seoul warning Tuesday that thousands of soldiers were being deployed to front-line areas, including the Russian region of Kursk, which Ukrainian troops pushed into months ago.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launch of “several short-range ballistic missiles” at around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday (5:30 p.m. Eastern, Monday) into waters east of the Korean peninsula. The missiles flew approximately 248 miles and Seoul’s military said it had tracked the launch in real time while sharing information with Tokyo and Washington.
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“In preparation for additional launches, our military has strengthened surveillance and alertness,” it added. Seoul was set to get more U.S. help in monitoring the North’s missile launches, meanwhile, with the State Department in Washington announcing Monday the approval of a new military aid package worth almost $5 billion.
That package includes the potential sale of airborne early warning and control systems to South Korea, with the approval of four E-7 Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) aircraft, 10 jet engines, and other systems and support elements, at an estimated total cost of $4.92 billion.
The early warning and control aircraft, known as Wedgetails, would enable South Korea to detect missiles and other threats more swiftly and from greater distances than ground-based radar systems.
“This proposed sale will improve the Republic of Korea’s ability to meet current and future threats by providing increased intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and airborne early warning and control capabilities,” the State Department said. “It will also increase the ROK Air Force’s command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR) interoperability with the United States.”
On Sunday, South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted a joint air drill involving a U.S. B-1B bomber, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, and Japanese F-2 jets, in response to the ICBM launch. Such joint drills infuriate Pyongyang, which views them as rehearsals for invasion.
U.S. Air Force/South Korea Defense Ministry/AP
Pyongyang called its latest launch “a direct response to the trilateral aerial exercises over the weekend,” Han Kwon-hee of the Korea Association of Defense Industry Studies told AFP. “Given it was a salvo of short-range missiles, the North is indicating that it not only has long-range missiles capable of reaching the U.S., but also short-range ones to target all bases in South Korea and Japan.”
Kim Yo Jong, sister of the country’s leader and a key spokesperson, called the U.S.-South Korea-Japan exercises an “action-based explanation of the most hostile and dangerous aggressive nature of the enemy toward our Republic.”
In a statement carried Tuesday by the official Korean Central News Agency, she said the drill was “absolute proof of the validity and urgency of the line of building up the nuclear forces we have opted for and put into practice.”
Seoul has long accused the nuclear-armed North of sending weapons to help Moscow fight Kyiv and alleged that Pyongyang has moved to deploy soldiers en masse since Kim signed a mutual defense deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin in June.
“More than 10,000 North Korean soldiers are currently in Russia, and we assess that a significant portion of them are deployed to front-line areas, including Kursk,” Jeon Ha-gyu, a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry, said Tuesday.
Seoul, a major weapons exporter, has said it is reviewing whether to send weapons directly to Ukraine in response, something it has previously resisted due to longstanding domestic policy that prevents it from providing weaponry into active conflicts.
With its recent testing spate, “Pyongyang is showing that its contribution of weapons and troops to Russia’s war in Ukraine does not curtail its military activities closer to home,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. “On the contrary, cooperation with Moscow appears to enable blatant violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions.”
On Monday, Robert Wood, U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N., slammed the North’s advancing ballistic missile program and said Russia and China were preventing the U.N. from holding Pyongyang to account.
Beijing and Moscow “have repeatedly shielded the DPRK, contributing to the normalization of these tests and emboldening the DPRK to further violate this Council’s sanctions and resolutions,” he said, referring to the North by its official name.
Speaking Tuesday in Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko said the North’s missile tests were a justified reaction to U.S. “provocations,” according to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.
Taylor Swift Eras Tour concerts tickets don’t come easy, or cheap. For fans of the superstar who manage to snag tickets, the thought of losing them never crosses their mind. But that’s exactly what’s happening to Swifties nationwide as hackers target Ticketmaster accounts, stealing customers’ tickets for resale on other sites.
“It was like that gut punch,” Morgen Bernius, a Maryland mom, told CBS News national consumer correspondent Usher Qurashi in describing the moment she discovered the Taylor Swift tickets she purchased for her daughter had suddenly disappeared from her Ticketmaster account.
“The tickets are gone — gone,” said Bernius, adding that she could cry just thinking about it. “It was devastating,” she added.
Ticketmaster won’t say how many people have had their tickets stolen, reported Qurashi, but accounts of ticket theft similar to Bernius’ have rippled throughout social media over the past month. “I woke up and my tickets had been ‘successfully’ transferred,” said another theft victim, using air quotes.
“The No.1 tip I could give to fans to protect themselves is to make sure they have a secure, unique password, that they are not using on other platforms,” Kaitlyn Henrich, head of global at Live Nation Entertainment, parent company of Ticketmaster, told Qurashi.
Asked if the company has failed its customers, Henrich added, “We are constantly striving to look at what’s going on and improve the experience.”
For now, that experience includes a 48-hour average wait for fans to have their tickets restored after notifying the company of their disappearance. As an added precaution, Ticketmaster is limiting ticket transfers to 72 hours before Eras Tour concerts and requiring two-factor authentication for some transactions.
“It’s a very small percent, less than a tenth of one percent,” said Henrich, “but obviously for that one fan who’s going through that, it’s a really stressful situation.”
Online ticket thefts also hurt those who unknowingly purchase tickets that had been stolen.
Karen Perry, who paid more than $4,000 for two seats on StubHub to see the Eras Tour in New Orleans, got an email from TicketMaster just weeks before the show informing her that her tickets were stolen and would be returned to the original buyer.
“The tickets that were transferred to you were acquired by someone who was attempting to steal tickets. As a result, they have been cancelled and returned to the original ticket holder,” the letter read.
“My heart dropped, like, my stomach sank,” Perry told Qurashi. “Like, I was at work and I instantly started crying.”
StubHub says Ticketmaster never informed them about the customer thefts, which it only found out about through media reports.
“I think that if there was a world where, for example, we would see Ticketmaster be more collaborative, or more transparent, about the problems they’re having, and how they’re attempting to solve those problems, we could be a partner in that effort,” Laura Dooley of StubHub told Qurashi.
What you can do to protect yourself
Experts say there are several steps ticket buyers can take to reduce the odds of getting ripped off.
- Check early and often that your tickets are still in your account and haven’t been transferred.
- Buy from sellers who offer replacement or refund guarantees.
- Take screenshots of all of your purchases.
As for Perry, who unknowingly purchased stolen tickets off of StubHub, she was able to find new seats with the help of the company, and was able to catch Swift in action in mid-October.
“We just had the best night of our entire lives,” Perry said. “Hands down. It was better than our wedding. It was so good.”
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Until recently, inflation had been high in the U.S. That, in turn, helped to drive many consumers to safe-haven investments like gold, silver and other precious metals.
These precious metals are often considered a hedge against the declining dollar and a smart safeguard of wealth, which is why investors tend to flock to them during times of economic turmoil. But today, inflation is finally close to the 2% target rate, and the Federal Reserve has begun cutting its benchmark rate as a result.
Does that mean gold and silver are still wise investments? And if so, which one is best for your money? Here’s what experts have to say.
Learn more about your gold investing options now.
When gold investing is better as interest rates are cut
Both gold and silver can be smart investments right now, pros say, but the right metal depends on your goals and budget.
“Both precious metals are used as hedges during periods of lower interest rates and periods of economic instability such as recessions, and both have performed well over these times,” Christopher Mediate, president of Mediate Financial, says.
But if diversifying your portfolio is your key goal — protecting yourself against dips in other asset classes — gold is often your best bet.
“Gold might make sense for conservative investors or even retirees who are looking for an uncorrelated asset and want to diversify away from stock and bond markets,” says Ben Nadelstein, head of content for Monetary Metals. “Gold is uncorrelated with traditional asset classes like stocks or bonds, which can help smooth out the returns of a portfolio and reduce exposure to market swings.”
If you fear a recession or other economic troubles may be coming on, gold can also be a good choice. Right now, JP Mortgage Research puts the probability of a recession by the end of 2025 at 45%.
“It would make sense for investors that want safe haven assets to ride out economic uncertainty,” Mediate says. “It’s an asset that has withstood the test of time — especially during recessionary and interest rate cut cycles.”
Add gold to your investment portfolio today.
When silver investing is better as interest rates are cut
If you’re looking for something that will potentially offer more growth than gold — and are willing to take on a bumpier ride — silver would be the right option right now.
“Silver has had a more muted reaction to Fed cuts so far, which could mean more upside potential,” Nadelstein says. “It’s a more volatile investment than gold and could be a better option for investors willing to endure more swings in exchange for greater potential price appreciation.”
Essentially, the price of silver could go further, experts say, which could mean more returns in the long haul.
“Silver has a lot of catching up to do in price to gold, as gold is at all new highs and silver is way off,” says Mike Chadwick, president of Fiscal Wisdom Wealth Management. “Silver is usually late and runs harder long term, so silver has a lot more torque than gold.”
Silver can also be a good option if you’re simply on a tight budget and have less capital to work with.
“As gold becomes more expensive, silver might also attract buyers who are getting priced out of the gold market,” Nadelstein explains.
The bottom line
Both silver and gold can be wise investments right now as the Fed adjusts its policy. The right choice depends on your goals as an investor, though, as well as your budget.
“I’d consider gold a more mature investment and silver a more adrenaline-based investment,” Chadwick says.
If you’re not sure which to invest in — or how much to buy, talk to a financial advisor or investment professional. They can help you make the best decisions for your individual portfolio, as well as help you pick the right vehicle for your investment, whether that’s a gold IRA, silver IRA, physical bars and coins, gold ETFs or another type of gold asset.