North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned again that the North could preemptively use its nuclear weapons if threatened.

His latest comments came as he praised his top army officials for a massive military parade in Pyongyang this week. State media reported on Saturday that Kim expressed "firm will" to continue developing his nuclear-armed military so that it could "preemptively and thoroughly contain and frustrate all dangerous attempts and threatening moves, including ever-escalating nuclear threats from hostile forces, if necessary."

The parade on Monday came after a spate of missile tests that underscored Kim's willingness to force the United States to accept the North as a nuclear power and remove crippling economic sanctions.

SEOUL —

South Korean police investigated on Monday what caused a crowd surge that killed more than 150 people including 26 foreigners during Halloween festivities in Seoul in the country’s worst disaster in years, as President Yoon Suk Yeol and tens of thousands of others paid respects to the dead at special mourning sites.

Saturday's disaster was concentrated in a sloped, narrow alley in Seoul’s Itaewon neighborhood, a popular nightlife district, with witnesses and survivors recalling a "hell-like" chaos with people falling on each other like dominoes. They said the entire Itaewon area was jammed with slow-moving vehicles and partygoers clad in Halloween costumes, making it impossible for rescuers and ambulances to reach the crammed alleys in time.

Questions remain after deadly crowd surge

Police said they've launched a 475-member task force to investigate the crush.

Officers have obtained videos taken by about 50 security cameras in the area and are also analyzing video clips posted on social media. They have interviewed more than 40 witnesses and survivors so far, senior police officer Nam Gu-Jun told reporters Monday.

Other police officers said they are trying to find exactly when and where the crowd surge started and how it developed. They said a team of police officers and government forensic experts searched the Itaewon area on Monday.

"The government will thoroughly investigate the cause of the incident and do its best to make necessary improvements of systems to prevent a similar accident from recurring," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said at the start of a government meeting on the disaster.

The Itaewon area, famous for its cosmopolitan atmosphere, is the country's hottest spot for Halloween-themed events and parties, which have grown increasingly popular among young South Koreans in recent years. An estimated 100,000 people were gathered there in the country’s largest Halloween celebration since the pandemic began.

2 Americans among foreigners killed

The dead included 26 foreign nationals.

One of the Americans killed was Anne Gieske, a University of Kentucky nursing student from northern Kentucky who was doing a study-abroad program in South Korea, the university said in a statement. The other was Steven Blesi, 20, his father, Steve Blesi, wrote on Twitter after earlier seeking information about his son.

Blesi appealed for information after not hearing from his son, asking, “If anyone has any news please share.” After a flood of responses offering help and support, he tweeted, “We just got confirmation our son died,” followed by “Thank you for the outpouring of love. We need time to grieve.”

Australian victim Grace Rached, a Sydney film production assistant, was described by her family as "our life of the party." Her family said in a statement that “We are missing our gorgeous angel Grace, who lit up the room with her infectious smile.”

The Japanese dead included Mei Tomikawa, who was studying Korean language in Seoul, according to Japanese media. Her father, Ayumu Tomikawa, told Japanese public broadcaster NHK that his daughter "really liked South Korea and was enjoying her life there."

Background on festivities and emergency response

Halloween festivities in Itaewon have no official organizers. South Korean police said Monday they don't have any specific procedures for handling incidents such as crowd surges during an event that has no organizers.

Police said they dispatched 137 officers to maintain order during Halloween festivities on Saturday, much more than the 34-90 officers mobilized in 2017, 2018 and 2019 before the pandemic.

Citing those figures, police dismissed as "different from the truth" speculation that a police station in the area was understaffed because it was providing extra security for Yoon, who earlier moved the presidential office to a site near Itaewon. They said police-provided security for presidents has long been handled by two special police units which have nothing to do with the Yongsan police station, whose jurisdiction includes Itaewon.

Some witnesses said the stampede was caused by people in the upper part of the downhill alley pushing others in the lower area. Local media also questioned an apparent lack of safety preparations for the large crowd expected to gather in Itaewon.

Asked about those possibilities, Nam, the police officer, said the investigation would look into all possible causes of the crush.

As of Monday morning, the government said it has identified 153 of the 154 bodies and informed relatives of their identification. Nearly two-thirds of the dead — 98 — were women. It said 149 others remain injured. The death toll could rise further because officials said 33 of the injured were in serious condition.

More than 80% of the dead were in their 20s or 30s and 11 were teenagers, the Interior Ministry said.

Among foreign victims, five were from Iran, four from China, four from Russia, two from the United States, two from Japan, and one each from Australia, Norway, France, Austria, Vietnam, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Sri Lanka, according to the ministry.

As the identification of the dead neared completion, bereaved families were expected to begin funerals for their loved ones. Officials said the government will provide the necessary support for funeral procedures.

President Yoon on Sunday declared a one-week national mourning period and ordered flags at government buildings and public offices to fly at half-staff.

The government opened special memorial sites on Monday in Seoul and other major cities. Tens of thousands of people including Yoon and other top officials visited the sites, placed white flowers and bowed deeply. Many people also laid chrysanthemums, bottles of Korean "soju" liquor, candles and snacks near an Itaewon subway station and posted a host of condolence messages.

Following the disaster, many hotels, department stores, amusement parks and other businesses canceled Halloween-themed events.

The crowd surge was South Korea's deadliest disaster since 2014, when 304 people, mostly high school students, died in a ferry sinking.

The sinking exposed lax safety rules and regulatory failures. It was partially blamed on excessive and poorly fastened cargo and a crew ill-trained for emergency situations. Saturday’s deaths will likely draw public scrutiny of what government officials have done to improve public safety standards since the ferry disaster.

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Associated Press writers Adam Schreck in Bangkok and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

SEOUL, South Korea —

Related video above: Alarms blare in Japan after NKorea missile tests

North Korea fired a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japanese territorial waters Friday, its neighbors said, the second such major weapons test this month that shows its determination to perfect weapons systems targeting the U.S. mainland.

The launch was the latest in a barrage of weapons tests that North Korea has conducted in recent months in response to what it calls U.S. hostility. Some experts say the North is able to perform such a spree of weapons tests partly because China and Russia have opposed U.S. moves to toughen sanctions on North Korea.

The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the suspected ICBM launch from North Korea's capital region at 10:15 a.m. and the weapon flew toward the North's eastern coast across the country. The statement said South Korea's military bolstered its surveillance of North Korea and maintains readiness in close coordination with the United States.

The Japanese Defense Ministry also initially identified the weapon as an ICBM-class ballistic missile. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, visiting Bangkok to attend a regional summit, told reporters it was believed to have landed at sea inside Japan's exclusive economic zone west of Hokkaido, Japan's main northern island.

If confirmed, it would be North Korea’s first ICBM launch in about two weeks. Experts said an ICBM launched by North Korea on Nov. 3 failed to fly its intended flight and fell into the ocean after a stage separation.

The Nov. 3 test was believed to have involved a developmental ICBM called Hwasong-17. North Korea has two other types of ICBM — Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15 — and their test-launches in 2017 proved they could potentially reach parts of the U.S. homeland.

The Hwasong-17 has a longer potential range than the others and its huge size suggests it’s designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads to defeat missile defense systems. Some experts say the Nov. 3 test showed some technological progress in the development of the Hwasong-17, given that in its earlier test in March, the missile exploded soon after liftoff.

“North Korea has been repeatedly firing missiles this year at an unprecedented frequency and is significantly escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamad told reporters.

South Korea’s presidential office said it convened an emergency security meeting to discuss the North Korean launch.

North Korea had halted weapons launches for about a week before it fired a short-range ballistic missile on Thursday.

Before Thursday’s launch, the North’s foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, threatened to launch “fiercer” military responses to the U.S. bolstering its security commitment to its allies South Korea and Japan.

Choe was referring to President Joe Biden’s recent trilateral summit with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts on the sidelines of a regional gathering in Cambodia. In their joint statement, the three leaders strongly condemned North Korea’s recent missile tests and agreed to work together to strengthen deterrence. Biden reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defend South Korea and Japan with a full range of capabilities, including its nuclear arms.

Choe didn’t say what steps North Korea could take but said that “the U.S. will be well aware that it is gambling, for which it will certainly regret.”

Pyongyang sees the U.S. military presence in the region as proof of its hostility toward North Korea. It has said its recent series of weapons launches were its response to what it called provocative military drills between the United States and South Korea.

There have been concerns that North Korea might conduct its first nuclear test in five years as its next major step toward bolstering its military capability against the United States and its allies.

North Korea has been under multiple rounds of U.N. sanctions over its previous nuclear and missile tests. But no fresh sanctions have been applied this year though it has conducted dozens of ballistic missile launches, which are banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions.

That's possible because China and Russia, two of the U.N. council's veto-wielding members, oppose new U.N. sanctions. Washington is locked in a strategic competition with Beijing and in a confrontation with Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

CNN —

North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Monday morning, South Korean authorities said, the latest in series of missile firings as South Korean and United States forces engage in their largest military exercises since 2017.

Japanese authorities said the two missiles are suspected of having flown on "an irregular trajectory," with a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (31 miles) and at a distance of of 350 kilometers (217 miles).

Irregular trajectories could mean the missiles are maneuverable, in contrast to regular ballistic missiles, which travel in an arc.

Video above: State media in North Korea recently claimed its military has tested a nuclear underwater drone that could release a 'radioactive tsunami'

The missile launches come as South Korean and U.S. forces engage in large-scale military exercises involving thousands of troops on the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.

Following Monday's missile launch, the South Korean military said it would continue operating the Warrior Shield field training exercise at high intensity until they end in early April.

Two large U.S. Navy platforms, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island are near the southern coast of South Korea preparing to participate in exercises later this week.

North Korean missile launches tend to spike when Washington and Seoul hold joint military drills.

The latest U.S.-South Korea exercises are among the largest the two allies have put on since they scaled back such military displays in 2017, when then-U.S. President Donald Trump tried to offer an opening for North Korea to negotiate an end to its long-range missile and nuclear weapons programs.

That opening has long since closed, with North Korea last year conducting a record number of missile tests while pledging to develop its nuclear program to arm the missiles.

The North's missile testing has picked up again in recent weeks, as tensions on the Korean Peninsula continue to escalate.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts were meeting Saturday in Hawaii to discuss the threat posed by nuclear-armed North Korea after Pyongyang began the year with a series of missile tests.

Blinken gathered in Honolulu with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong. Defense chiefs from the three countries last week said North Korea’s recent missile tests were destabilizing regional security.

Some experts say North Korea is using the weapon's tests to put pressure on President Joe Biden’s administration to resume long-stalled nuclear negotiations as the pandemic puts further strain on an economy already battered by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions.

Biden’s administration has offered North Korea open-ended talks but has shown no willingness to ease the sanctions without meaningful cuts to the country’s nuclear program.

The tests also have a technical component, allowing North Korea to hone its weapons arsenal. One of the missiles recently tested — the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile — is capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam. It was the longest-distance weapon the North has tested since 2017.

North Korea appears to be pausing its tests during the Winter Olympics in China, its most important ally and economic lifeline. But analysts believe North Korea will dramatically increase its weapons testing after the Olympics.

The recent tests have rattled Pyongyang's neighbors in South Korea and Japan. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who helped set up the historic talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former President Donald Trump in 2018 and 2019, said last month that the tests were a violation UN Security Council resolutions and urged the North to cease “actions that create tensions and pressure.”

The Security Council initially imposed sanctions on North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006. It made them tougher in response to further nuclear tests and the country’s increasingly sophisticated nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

China and Russia, citing the North's economic difficulties, have called for lifting sanctions like those banning seafood exports and prohibitions on its citizens working overseas and sending home their earnings.

Blinken arrived in Hawaii from Fiji, where he met with Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and other Pacific leaders to talk about regional issues, especially the existential risk posed by climate change. It was the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state to Fiji since 1985.

He started his Pacific tour in Australia, where he met his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan. The four nations form the “Quad,” a bloc of Indo-Pacific democracies that was created to counter China’s regional influence.

Hayashi and Chung held a separate bilateral meeting Saturday for about 40 minutes before seeing Blinken. Japan’s Foreign Ministry said they reaffirmed the importance of cooperating together and with the United States to respond to North Korea and to achieve regional stability.

The ministry said they also “frankly” exchanged views on ongoing disputes between the two countries, including wartime Korean laborers and sexual abuse of Korean women forced into sexual servitude by Japan’s imperial army.

Blinken also met separately with Chung. He met Hayashi earlier this week in Australia.

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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

SEOUL, Seoul —

North Korea on Tuesday test-fired two suspected cruise missiles in its fifth round of weapons launches this month, South Korean military officials said, as it displays its military might amid pandemic-related difficulties and a prolonged freeze in nuclear negotiations with the United States.

One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department rules, said South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials were analyzing the launches, but didn't provide further details. Another military official, who requested anonymity over similar reasons, said the tests were conducted from an inland area, but didn't specify where.

North Korea has been increasing its testing activity recently in an apparent effort to pressure the Biden administration over the stalled diplomacy after the pandemic unleashed further shock on an economy broken by crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons program and decades of mismanagement by its own government.

North Korea last Thursday issued a veiled threat to resume the testing of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles targeting the American homeland, which leader Kim Jong Un suspended in 2018 while initiating diplomacy with the United States.

Some experts say North Korea could dramatically escalate weapons demonstrations after the Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 4 in China, the North's main ally and economic lifeline.

They say Pyongyang's leadership likely feels it could use a dramatic provocation to move the needle with the Biden administration, which has offered open-ended talks but showed no willingness to ease sanctions unless Kim takes real steps to abandon the nuclear weapons and missiles he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival.

Tuesday's launches could have been follow-up tests of a weapon North Korea has described as a long-range cruise missile and first tested in September, said Kim Dong-yub, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.

State media in reports at the time said the missiles were fired from launcher trucks and could strike targets 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away. It described those missiles as a "strategic weapon of great significance" — wording that implies they were developed to carry nuclear weapons.

While halting the tests of nuclear devices and intercontinental range ballistic missiles, Kim Jong Un since 2019 has been ramping up tests of various shorter-range weapons apparently designed to overwhelm missile defenses in the region. Experts say the North's expanding missile arsenal reflects an aim to apply more pressure on its rivals to accept it as a nuclear power in hopes of winning relief from economic sanctions and convert the diplomacy with Washington into mutual arms-reduction negotiations.

SEOUL, South Korea —

North Korea on Friday fired two short-range ballistic missiles in its third weapons launch this month, officials in South Korea said, in an apparent reprisal for fresh sanctions imposed by the Biden administration for its continuing test launches.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles came from an inland area in western North Pyongan province.

Related video above: North Korea fires second missile in less than a week

Japan’s Prime Minister’s Office and the Defense Ministry also detected the launch, while its coast guard urged vessels to pay attention to falling objects.

Hours earlier, North Korea issued a statement berating the Biden administration for imposing fresh sanctions over its missile tests and warned of stronger and more explicit action if Washington maintains its “confrontational stance.”

The sanctions targeted five North Koreans over their roles in obtaining equipment and technology for the North’s missile programs in its response to the North’s missile test this week. Washington also said it would seek new U.N. sanctions.

The previous test-launch of a hypersonic missile on Tuesday — the second a week — was overseen by leader Kim Jong Un, who said it would greatly increase his country’s nuclear “war deterrent.”

North Korea has been ramping up tests of new, potentially nuclear-capable missiles designed to overwhelm missile defenses in the region. Some experts say Kim is going back to a tried-and-true technique of pressuring the world with missile launches and outrageous threats before offering negotiations meant to extract concessions.

Following an unusually provocative run in nuclear and long-range missile tests in 2017 that demonstrated the North’s pursuit of an arsenal that could target the American homeland, Kim initiated diplomacy with former President Donald Trump in 2018 in an attempt to leverage his nukes for economic benefits.

But the negotiations derailed after Kim’s second summit with Trump in 2019, when the Americans rejected his demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of the North's nuclear capabilities.

Kim has since pledged to further expand a nuclear arsenal he clearly sees as his strongest guarantee of survival, despite the country’s economy suffering major setbacks after it shut its borders during the pandemic as well as persistent U.S.-led sanctions.

His government has so far rejected the Biden administration’s open-ended offer to resume talks, saying Washington must abandon its “hostile policy” first — a term Pyongyang mainly uses to describe the sanctions and joint U.S.-South Korea military drills.

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said North Korea appears to be signaling it will not be ignored and will respond to pressure with pressure.

“North Korea is trying to lay a trap for the Biden administration,” Easley said. “It has queued up missiles that it wants to test anyway and is responding to U.S. pressure with additional provocations in an effort to extort concessions.”

In a statement carried by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Friday defended the launches as a righteous exercise of self-defense.

The spokesperson said the new sanctions underscore hostile U.S. intent aimed at “isolating and stifling” the North. The spokesperson accused Washington of maintaining a “gangster-like” stance, saying that the North’s development of the new missile is part of its efforts to modernize its military and does not target any specific country or threaten the security of its neighbors.

Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose a crucial challenge to missile defenses because of their speed and maneuverability.

Such weapons were on a wish-list of sophisticated military assets Kim unveiled early last year along with multi-warhead missiles, spy satellites, solid-fuel long-range missiles and submarine-launched nuclear missiles.

Still, experts say North Korea would need years and more successful and longer-range tests before acquiring a credible hypersonic system.

In an interview with MSNBC, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the North’s latest tests “profoundly destabilizing” and said the United States was deeply engaged at the U.N. and with key partners, including allies South Korea and Japan, on a response.

“I think some of this is North Korea trying to get attention. It’s done that in the past. It’ll probably continue to do that,” Blinken said. “But we are very focused with allies and partners in making sure that they and we are properly defended and that there are repercussions, consequences for these actions by North Korea.”

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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

SEOUL, South Korea —

South Korea's president said Monday he'll keep striving to promote peace with North Korea through dialogue until the end of his term next May, after Pyongyang raised animosities with a resumption of provocative weapons tests.

While launching a spate of newly developed weapons in recent weeks, North Korea has also slammed Washington and Seoul over what it calls hostility toward the North. Its actions indicate North Korea wants its rivals to ease economic sanctions against it and accept it as a legitimate nuclear state, experts say.

In his final policy speech at parliament, President Moon Jae-in said he'll "make efforts to the end to help a new order for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula be established through dialogue and diplomacy."

Moon, a champion of greater reconciliation with North Korea, once shuttled between Pyongyang and Washington to help facilitate now-stalled nuclear diplomacy between the two countries. Pyongyang turned a cold shoulder on Moon after its diplomacy with Washington broke down in early 2019 amid bickering over the sanctions.

Moon praised himself for paving the way for a peace process on the Korean Peninsula by holding three summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and helping arrange the first-ever North Korea-U.S. summit between Kim and then-President Donald Trump in 2018.

But Moon acknowledged his push for peace through dialogue remains "incomplete."

Moon's single five-year term ends next May, and he's barred by law from seeking reelection. The presidential candidate of Moon's ruling liberal party has unveiled a similar North Korea policy as Moon's. Surveys indicate a neck-and-neck race with a potential conservative candidate, who will likely take a harder line on the North.

The North Korean weapons systems tested recently are mostly short- and medium-range weapons that place South Korea and Japan within their striking ranges. Last Tuesday, North Korea fired a ballistic missile from a submarine in its most significant weapons test since President Joe Biden took office in January.

Some experts say North Korea may test a longer-range missile that could pose a direct threat to the American homeland to increase its pressure on Washington in coming weeks.

In part of his efforts to ease tensions and promote peace, Moon has recently been pushing for a symbolic declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War as a way to promote peace. When Moon meets Pope Francis at the Vatican this week, they'll discuss a possible North Korea trip by Francis as he has expressed hopes for that several times, according to Moon's office.

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's first domestically produced space rocket launched off the pad in Goheung but ultimately failed on its quest to deliver a dummy payload into orbit in its first test launch on Thursday.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in still described the test as an "excellent accomplishment" that takes the country a step further in its pursuit of a space launch program.

According to Reuters, the three-stage Nuri rocket rose from the launch pad at 5 p.m. local time Thursday. The spacecraft reached its desired altitude, but officials said the final stage appeared to shut down 40-50 seconds early. That meant that the payload did not reach the speed needed to get to its intended target.

Reuters says that officials are investigating whether a lack of pressure inside the fuel tank or control computer malfunctions were to blame for the shutdown.

"It's not long before we'll be able to launch it exactly into the target trajectory," Moon said, according to a transcript. "The 'Korea Space Age' is approaching."

South Korea is trying to become the 10th nation to send a satellite into space with its own technology. Officials say such an ability would be crucial for the country's space ambitions. Those ambitions include acquiring its own military intelligence satellites and sending a probe to the moon by 2030.

When Meghan Kahler and Steven Halstead adopted the Japanese mastiff, he came with the name Daniel.He is a big, old goofy dog, emphasis on big. He has paws the size of saucers and a head the size of a volleyball. He tips the scale at more than 100 pounds, with a wide body and a back you could use as a coffee table.Daniel didn’t seem to be a good name, the couple thought. It didn’t seem to capture his personality, or his heritage, so they changed it. They named him Ham.It’s not short for Hamilton – as in the play or the founding father. It’s just Ham, “like Christmas ham,” Meghan said.It made sense. They adopted Ham around Christmas 2020. And just a few months before that, Ham was destined to become ham, having been rescued from a South Korean farm where dogs were bred and raised to be food.“We think we’re funny,” Steven said. “For a meat market dog, it’s a great name.” Ham was among 170 dogs liberated from a farm in late October last year, rescued by South Korean members of the Humane Society International’s Animal Rescue Team from the facility in Haemi, a rural town south of the capital, Seoul.Although dog meat is not a staple in the South Korean diet, it is still part of the nation’s tradition, particularly in rural parts of the country during what’s known as Bok days, the hottest days in late July and early August. Bok days are, quite literally, the dog days of summer. Consuming dog, it is believed, increases energy and brings luck and prosperity.The majority of South Koreans, though, abhor the practice. Eighty-four percent of South Koreans, according to a poll commissioned by the Humane Society, have never eaten dog meat and have no plans to do so. And a majority of South Koreans – 57 percent, according to the poll – believe that dog meat consumption reflects poorly on the nation, contributing to racist Asian stereotypes.The South Korean government, responding to increased pressure, both internationally and domestically, has been leaning toward banning dog meat. Authorities, in the past couple of years, have shut down some of the nation’s largest dog meat farms, markets and slaughterhouses.Among those was the farm in Haemi. The 170 dogs in the farm lived in terrible conditions, kept in cages, stacked one upon another in a long, seemingly haphazard structure fashioned from PVC pipe, corrugated metal sheets and plastic tarps.An investigator from the Humane Society described the conditions as “truly pitiful.” Nara Kim, the Humane Society’s dog meat campaign manager, said, “Every dog meat farm I’ve visited has a horrible stench of feces and rotting food, but there was something different about this dog farm; it had a smell of death. When we found these dogs, they had looks of utter despair on their faces that will haunt us forever.”Nine of the dogs wound up at the York County SPCA. All but one has been adopted, a difficult feat considering that these dogs would need special attention to make the transition from the dinner table to the couch.Watch video above: South Korea expected to grant legal status to animals to end years of abuse and abandonment

CNN —

An upscale hotel in South Korea has issued an apology for a mistake that may have enabled outsiders to see into their sauna.

The Grand Josun, a new five-star property on the popular resort island of Jeju, issued a statement on their website after a local blog reported that the sauna's blinds had been up for part of the day, making it possible for people to see into the women's sauna area from the street.

"We're deeply sorry for causing any inconveniences to our customers in using some facilities at the women's sauna at the Grand Josun Jeju Hill suite for missing mirror coating for some windows and [problems in] operating the blinds," read the statement, which was posted on Feb. 18.

"The sauna's operation has been suspended and we're closely checking deficiencies and taking immediate action to correct them."

The hotel explained that the special coating makes it impossible for people to see into the sauna during the day, but doesn't work the same way at night, which is why the blinds are supposed to come down as soon as it's dark.

A Korean blogger wrote about his experience staying at the hotel, which went viral after it was posted on Feb. 15.

"I went on my honeymoon to Jeju Island and stayed at a suite room at a newly opened five-star hotel but my honeymoon turned out to be the worst memory of my life," wrote the blogger, explaining that he and his wife had enjoyed using the pool and sauna facilities.

He adds: "On my last day I went for a walk but as I looked at the windows of the sauna I found out that I was able to see inside the sauna from outside. I could see the thermometer inside the sauna through the windows. We could see the inside of the showers and bathrooms from outside, from the hotel entrance, walk path, car park and from even hotel room balconies.

"My wife and I were shocked to find this out. The thought that we might have used bathrooms and showers in front of many people gives me chills and we're getting therapy treatment."

According to Korea's Yonhap News Agency, the local Seogwipo police were called when guests began complaining to the hotel staff. The hotel's manager was out of town for the Lunar New Year holiday, the blogger claimed.

The police are now going through CCTV footage to determine if anyone was exposed while using the facilities or if anyone was taking illicit pictures or video from outside.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, steam and dry sauna rooms have been shut, but general tubs have been open with capacity limits. As the country's borders remain closed to non-residents and quarantine laws are in place, many Koreans have opted for domestic holidays this year.

Red Sox prospect Triston Casas hit a go-ahead, two-run homer in the fourth inning, Nick Allen also went deep and the United States rallied past defending champion South Korea 4-2 Saturday night to finish the group stage of the Olympic baseball tournament with a 2-0 record.

Nick Martinez (1-0), who left the major leagues for Japan after the 2017 season, struck out nine in five innings. Scott McGough, Edwin Jackson, Anthony Gose and David Robertson finished a five-hitter for the Americans, who struck out 14.

The United States, which beat Israel 8-1 in its opener, earned Sunday off as the Group B winner and plays Group A winner Japan (2-0) on Monday night in the start of a double-elimination second stage. South Korea (1-1) faces the Dominican Republic (1-1) on Sunday.

Martinez, a right-hander who turns 31 next Thursday, was 17-30 for Texas from 2014-17 and signed with the Pacific League’s Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters after the Rangers demoted him to Triple-A 13 times. He switched to the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks this season and is 7-2 with a 2.03 ERA.

While Major League Baseball refused to allow 40-man roster players at the Olympics and many teams blocked top prospects from participating, Nippon Professional Baseball stopped its season.

Martinez allowed one run and four hits. South Korea, which started seven left-handed hitters, scored in the first after Park Hae-min led off with a three-hopper to shortstop and beat Allen’s throw for an infield single.

Park took third on a single by Lee Jungh-hoo, a son of former Korean League MVP Lee Jong-beom, and scored when Kim Hyun-soo, who played for Baltimore and Philadelphia in 2016-17, bounced into a forceout.

McGough, a 31-year-old right-hander, had his only big league experience in six games with Miami in 2015. He is in his third season with the Pacific League’s Yakult Swallows. Gose reached 98.9 mph in his 1 1/3 innings; no other pitcher has topped 94.5 mph.

Robertson got the save after allowing a walk, double and Oh Jaeil's sacrifice fly.

Side-arming South Korean right-hander Ko Youngpyo (0-1) gave up three runs and four hits in 4 2/3 innings, struck out six and walked none.

Ko allowed one baserunner in the first three innings, then plunked Eddy Alvarez on the left thigh with a breaking ball leading off the fourth.

Casas, a 21-year-old who was the 26th overall pick by Boston in the 2018 amateur draft, reached down for a 2-2 breaking ball on the inside corner at the knees and drove it about four rows into the right-field seats, Casas is in his first season at Double-A Portland.

Allen, a career minor leaguer playing independent ball in Midland, Texas, jumped on a hanging breaking ball in the fifth, driving it 10 rows into the left-field seats.

Alvarez’s single chased Ko, and singles by Alvarez and Tyler Austin against Go Woosuk made it 4-1.

JAPAN 7, MEXICO 4

Former Central League MVP Tetsuto Yamada had four RBIs and broke open the game with a three-run homer, and Hayato Sakamoto went deep off former big league pitcher Manny Bañuelos.

Masato Morishita (1-0), a 23-year-old right-hander who is reigning Central League Rookie of the Year, allowed two runs and five hits in five innings. Ryoji Kuribayashi got three straight outs for the save.

Joey Meneses, a 29-year-old in Double-A with Boston and the 2018 International League MVP, had three RBIs for Mexico, including a two-run homer in the eighth off Kaima Taira.

Mexico faces an elimination game on Sunday against Israel (both 0-2).

Mexico starter Juan Oramas (0-1) allowed two runs and four hits in three innings.

Morishita, who pauses his windup with his left leg bent at a 90-degree angle and only then finishes his delivery, gave up an RBI single in the first to Meneses.

Takuya Kai, the 2019 Japan Series MVP, hit a tying single in the second, and Hideto Asamura chopped a run-scoring comebacker in the third for a 2-1 lead.

Yamada, the 2015 Central League MVP and a six-time All-Star, turned on a fastball at the letters in the fourth from Arizona minor leaguer Édgar Arredondo for a 5-1 lead.

Mexico had runners at the corners with no outs in the bottom half. Adrián Gonzalez, a five-time All-Star whose last big league season was 2018, brought in a run when he grounded into his second double play to go along with two strikeouts.

Samamoto homered in the seventh off Bañuelos, who had a 6.31 ERA in a big league career than ended in 2019. Yamada added an RBI single in the eighth.

Oliver Pérez, a 40-year-old left-hander released by Cleveland in May, pitched got two outs in the ninth and did his familiar leap over the foul line.

WASHINGTON —

President Joe Biden on Friday said he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in remain "deeply concerned" about the situation with North Korea, and announced he will deploy a new special envoy to the region to help refocus efforts on pressing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

Moon, meanwhile, welcomed "America's return" to the world stage and said both leaders pledged to work closely toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Biden said he was dispatching career diplomat Sung Kim, who previously served as ambassador to South Korea, to serve as the special envoy to the region.

Moon said the move by Biden "reflects the firm commitment of the U.S. for exploring diplomacy and its readiness for dialogue with North Korea."

Moon came to Washington seeking renewed diplomatic urgency by the U.S. on curbing North Korea's nuclear program, even as the White House signaled that it is taking a longer view on the issue. High on Biden's list for the meeting as well: coordination in vaccine distribution, climate change and regional security concerns spurred by China.

Their meeting was only Biden's second in-person session with a foreign leader because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Moon said after the meeting the two had "a very frank dialogue like old friends" and emphasized the need for cooperation on security issues in the region.

"The most urgent common task that our two countries must undertake is achieving complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean peninsula," he said.

Moon said the two "reaffirmed the strength" of the nations' alliance and "affirmed the common vision for developing it into an even stronger one."

Their formal talks in the afternoon ran long, Biden said in earlier remarks, noting his staff interrupted repeatedly to warn they were over time. "But I enjoyed the meeting so much that it caused us to move everything back," Biden said, as he highlighted the two countries' "long history of shared sacrifice."

Moon said "The world is welcoming America's return," an oblique reference to former President Donald Trump's attempts to disengage on some aspects of American diplomacy.

The White House announced last month that it had completed a review of North Korea policy and Biden would veer from the strategies of his two most recent predecessors, rejecting both Trump's deeply personal effort to win over North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Barack Obama's more hands-off approach.

But the administration has yet to detail what its third-way effort to try to prod the North to abandon its nuclear program will look like.

Moon started his day at the White House complex by meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris and top Biden advisers. Moon also participated in a Medal of Honor ceremony for Ralph Puckett, a 94-year-old Army veteran who was celebrated for his gallantry during the Korean War more than 70 years ago.

"Without the sacrifice of veterans including Colonel Puckett ... freedom and democracy we enjoy today couldn't have blossomed in Korea," said Moon, who hailed Puckett as "true hero."

Moon, who will leave office next May, is eager to resume stalled talks between Washington and Pyongyang and between Seoul and Pyongyang. But the Biden administration, which confirmed in March that it had made outreach efforts to the North without success, has been less enthusiastic about the idea of direct negotiations in the near term.

Asked Thursday whether Biden was open to holding direct talks with Kim, as Trump did twice, press secretary Jen Psaki demurred.

"I don't expect that to be top on his agenda," she said of Biden.

Still, Moon made clear before the meeting that he would nudge Biden to renew diplomatic efforts with the North.

"I will not be pressed by time or become impatient during the remainder of my term," Moon told reporters this month. "However, if there is an opportunity to restart the clock of peace and advance the peace process on the Korean Peninsula, I will do everything I can."

A senior administration official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and briefed reporters on Moon's visit on the condition of anonymity, sidestepped questions about whether the administration was willing to offer North Korea sanctions relief to begin dismantling its nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.

The official said the U.S. was hoping to chart a "flexible" way forward, well aware of where past efforts went awry.

Biden was also expected to use the meeting to press South Korea to adopt a more ambitious 2030 target for curbing carbon emissions and to urge Seoul to do more to counter China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Moon was expected to seek Biden's assistance with helping South Korea boost its coronavirus vaccine supply. South Korea has vaccinated only about 5% of its population.

Biden also wanted Moon to take a strong stance on China's activity toward Taiwan and other provocative moves Beijing has made in the region. Biden has sought to rally Pacific allies to coordinate on China, which Biden sees as the United States' fiercest economic competitor.

Biden, in the early going of his presidency, has spoken out about concerns with Beijing's trade policies and human rights record and has also highlighted regional allies' concerns about an increasingly assertive Chinese military.

Biden has taken note of Japan's concerns that China's growing military activity and broad territorial claims present a security threat. Japan is locked in a dispute with China over Beijing's claim to the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, called Diaoyu in China, in the East China Sea. He's also looked to strengthen relations with India, which has been tested by a military standoff with China along their disputed border in eastern Ladakh.

But South Korea could be more reluctant to speak out about China, an important trading partner that it also sees as key in dealing with the Kim regime. Moon told reporters at the leaders' joint press conference after their meeting that "there was not pressure" on the issue applied by Biden.

Michael Green, who served as senior director for Asia on the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, said South Korea's situation is difficult.

"This South Korean policy of strategic ambiguity is proving increasingly awkward and almost untenable for Seoul because other middle powers that are not the U.S. or Japan ... are adjusting their China policies," said Green, who is senior vice president for Asia and Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Moon on Thursday visited Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington and laid a wreath at a memorial to Americans killed during the Korean War. He also visited the U.S. Capitol to meet with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.