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BERLIN — The German parliament Friday approved plans to relax strict restrictions on family names — clearing the way, among other things, for couples to take double surnames and pass them on to their children. The reform of Germany's rigid rules is due to take effect at the beginning of May 2025 after passing parliament's upper house, which represents the country's 16 state governments. As it stands, parents are required to give their children one of their surnames. One partner in a married couple — but not both — can add the other partner’s name to his or her surname. The reform will allow both partners to take on a double surname, with or without a hyphen, and for their children to take that name too. Parents will also be allowed to give their children a double surname. The new system still won’t allow names that are more than double. The legislation will also make it easier for stepchildren or children of divorced parents to change their family names, and it will allow the use of gender-adjusted forms of surnames for people with names from languages in which that is common — a change that will, for example, benefit the Sorbs, an Indigenous Slavic minority in parts of eastern Germany. It will also allow the use of traditional patronymic and matronymic names used by the Frisian minority, which entail children’s surnames being based on their father’s or mother’s first name. The change is one of several social reform projects that Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s socially liberal three-party governing coalition promised to enact when it took office in December 2021. Several higher-profile plans already have been implemented or approved. The government has legalized the possession of limited amounts of cannabis; eased the rules on gaining German citizenship; ended restrictions on holding dual citizenship; and ended a ban on doctors “advertising” abortion services. It also is making it easier for transgender, intersex and nonbinary people to change their name and gender in official records. Same-sex marriage was already legalized in 2017.

Johannesburg/Maputo —  Africa has long been known for its so-called “blood diamonds,” a term for mineral wealth that fuels violent conflict. In the Southern Africa country of Mozambique, a report finds “blood timber” largely fueled by market demand from China is financing an insurgency in northern Mozambique. But security analysts disagree on how much the militants are profiting from the wood sales.   An Islamic State-linked militant group has been waging an insurgency in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province since 2017, with some militants fighting in the name of jihad but most driven by economic exclusion in an area rich in rubies and natural gas.  A report this week by a U.K. and U.S.-based charity, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), says one of the region’s other natural riches, luxury hardwood prized in China, is further fueling the fighting.  “The bleeding has to stop. Mozambique has had a log export ban since 2017, but we can see clearly that China — the importer of more than 90% of Mozambique’s wood — has continued massive volume of imports of logs,” the EIA’s Alex Bloom told VOA.  Only some of that amount is wood coming from insurgency-wracked areas, the EIA says, estimating that about 30 percent of timber from Cabo Delgado is coming from insurgent-controlled forests.  The agency says the timber is then brought to Chinese-owned sawmills in the town of Montepuez, where legal and conflict timber are processed together to disguise illegality before shipping.   Throughout the process, Chinese businesses allegedly pay bribes to government officials to smooth the way for the wood to travel to port for export. Some of the wood going from Cabo Delgado to China is a rosewood known as “hongmu,” which is used to make luxury furniture.   As a species listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), rosewood is supposed to go through inspection by Mozambican officials to ensure that trade does not threaten its survival. However, due to corruption, this rarely happens, the EIA said.  Corruption allegations  “What we do is talk to the Chinese nicely so that we get our share of the bribe and they take the containers through the port,” one unnamed former official quoted in the report told the investigators.     EIA’s Bloom told VOA that because of the bribes, some Mozambican officials might not feel much incentive to stop the illegal timber trade.  “Many sources interviewed for this report described corruption at many levels through the timber trade, and some described a kind of symbiotic relationship between Mozambique officials, including the (governing) Frelimo party, and ‘China,’ referencing both the state and the Chinese business people in the trade sector in Cabo Delgado,” she said in an email.  Mozambique has been a beneficiary of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s global infrastructure-building project the Belt and Road Initiative for years.  “Sources said, for example, that the Frelimo party gains legitimacy from attracting both Chinese business and large infrastructure investments, and even campaign funds; and therefore is reluctant to criticize or crack down on wide-scale corrupt practices involving these players,” noted Bloom.  The Chinese embassy in Washington and the Chinese mission to the African Union did not reply to emailed requests for comment from VOA.   VOA also attempted to contact Mozambique’s minister of land and environment, Ivete Maibaze, but received no answer. Contacted for comment, police spokesperson Leonel Muchina referred reporters to the Mozambican attorney general’s office. The attorney general’s office then referred VOA to a report it presented to parliament in April.   In that report, authorities acknowledge that “Illicit trade in species of wild flora and fauna or parts thereof has reached alarming proportions.”  It found there was illegal exploitation of forest resources in Cabo Delgado.   “These crimes, in addition to causing damage to the common good, the environment, are closely related to the occurrence of other criminal phenomena, such as terrorist financing, money laundering and corruption,” it said.  Resurgence of violence  Cabo Delgado was back in the news this month, after the insurgents staged a major assault on the key town of Macomia on May 10.   This, as French oil company TotalEnergies had been looking at resuming a $20 billion liquefied natural gas project in the province that it postponed due to the unrest.   The renewed violence comes as regional forces — which have been stationed in the area since 2021 — begin to pull out.   Jasmine Opperman, a security consultant based in South Africa, told VOA in a phone interview the withdrawal of South African troops is going to leave a vacuum.   “The attack in Macomia should be a harsh wake-up call to the region, in terms of where we stand with the insurgency. Numbers is not a problem, weapons is not a problem, money is not a problem,” she said.  While she noted the militants were not lacking in funds, she was skeptical they were getting money from the timber trade as the EIA suggests.  “That report is but speculation. The Chinese are in control of the whole illegal trade in wood, and it’s a complex, complex network. … There is no evidence that insurgents are deriving any income from illegal wood trade,” Opperman said.  “At level best where they could make money with this trade is if they’re being paid protection money by the Chinese. That is to say, to move into an area where there are insurgents, pay them to allow them access, cut the trees, [and] get the trees out with no one being attacked,” she added.  Piers Pigou, at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, echoed the idea the militants could be making money that way.  "Where they could be involved is extracting rents in some way or another. … I think there are some question marks about exactly what the nature of that connectivity to the insurgency would be.”  Darren Olivier, director at African Defense Review, a conflict research consultancy, did not dismiss the idea either.  “The insurgency is clearly getting funding from somewhere, as there’s no way they’d be able to sustain this level of activity without a fairly substantial source of income,” he said.  VOA’s Portuguese Service contributed to this report.   

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For two years, the fiancee and family of a Mariupol defender have been waiting for him to return home. They haven’t heard from him since May 2022. His comrades say he's alive and being held in Russian territory. From Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, Tetiana Kukurika has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Sergiy Rybchynski.

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TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded his two-day trip to China Friday after Beijing and Moscow reaffirmed their “strategic relationship” by signing a joint statement and vowing to cooperate against “destructive and hostile” pressure from Washington. During meetings between Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Russian president said Moscow is willing to work with Beijing and other global south countries toward “a multipolar world,” while Xi said the two countries are committed to steering global governance “in the right direction.” Some analysts say Putin and Xi are trying to emphasize that Beijing and Moscow’s close partnership “is a force for good in the global system.” “Both leaders want to emphasize that they are creating a more equal environment and inclusive global economic and political system,” said Philipp Ivanov, a China-Russia analyst and the founder of consultancy Geopolitical Risks + Strategy Practice. In addition to challenging the existing world order led by the United States, Putin and Xi criticized the U.S. and NATO for creating negative effects on regional peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region by creating “closed and exclusive groupings” and expanding military presence. “In the current geopolitical context, it is necessary to explore the establishment of a sustainable security system in the Eurasian space based on the principle of equal and indivisible security,” read the joint statement signed by Xi and Putin. Some experts say Putin and Xi view Washington and NATO’s expanding military presence in Asia “as a zero-sum game.” “The logic of military balance is very central to their view of the international order and their target is the web of military alliances of the United States,” said Mathieu Duchatel, director of international studies at the French policy group Institut Montaigne. He told VOA that one of Xi and Putin’s goals to uphold their partnership is to “undermine” Washington’s alliance networks in Asia. Beijing’s limits As Switzerland prepares to host a peace summit dedicated to the Ukraine war next month, Xi and Putin also exchanged views on that ongoing conflict during their meeting Thursday. They believe that the war should be resolved through a political settlement. In a readout published by China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency, Xi said the fundamental solution to the war is establishing “a new, balanced, effective, and sustainable security architecture.” He added that China supports an international peace conference “recognized by Russia and Ukraine at an appropriate time with equal participation and fair discussion of all options.” Putin said Moscow “appreciates” Beijing’s “objective, just and balanced position on the Ukraine issue” and claimed that Russia is “committed to resolving the Ukraine issue through political negotiations.” Ivanov said China’s current efforts to help resolve the Ukraine War, including a 12-point peace plan released last February, suggest Beijing is trying to avoid making any commitment. The peace plan “is a diplomatic document rather than any substantive strategy for China’s participation in resolving this war,” he told VOA. Since neither Russia nor Ukraine is ready to negotiate, Ivanov thinks there is not much China can do to help end the war. “I haven’t seen any concrete steps from China in trying to resolve the war. I’m skeptical about Switzerland’s peace conference and China’s peace plan,” he said. Lack of effective pressure on China The meeting between Xi and Putin took place after Xi’s five-day trip to Europe, during which some analysts say Beijing was trying to exploit the disunity within the European Union. It also follows repeated warnings from the United States about the potential consequences of Beijing’s ongoing support for Russia’s war against Ukraine. During a news conference Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel told journalists that China can’t support the Russian war efforts while simultaneously trying to improve relations with the West. “It can't have it both ways and want to have [better] relationships with Europe and other countries while simultaneously continuing to fuel the biggest threat to European security in a long time,” he said. Some experts say China’s decision to uphold its partnership with Russia reflects Beijing’s belief that the West’s warnings about potential sanctions against Chinese entities supporting Russia’s war efforts may not materialize. “I think Beijing believes that there is nothing that Europe can do so they are asking Europe to show its hand,” Ja Ian Chong, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, told VOA by phone. In his view, the U.S. seems more serious about imposing potential secondary sanctions against Chinese entities while the European Union struggles to determine their responses to Beijing’s support for Moscow. An upward trajectory of the partnership Considering Washington’s repeated warnings of sanctioning Chinese entities for supporting Russia’s war efforts, Ivanov said Putin would try to safeguard Russia’s economic relationship with China through his visit. “I’m pretty confident that there is an active discussion on how to circumvent sanctions, and we will probably see more transactions and import-export activities flowing through third countries, such as those in Central Asia,” he told VOA, adding that one of China and Russia’s goals is to build a geoeconomic system “that is immune from Western sanctions and export controls.” Despite Western countries’ attempts to pressure or persuade China to stop support for Russia, Ivanov and Duchatel say Beijing will continue to uphold its partnership with Moscow. “There is no sign that Russia’s access to Chinese dual-use technology has been seriously reduced, and no actions from China suggest a reduced commitment to supporting Russia,” Duchatel told VOA. Ivanov said while there might be some disagreements between China and Russia, the overall direction of their partnership is “trending upward.” “I don’t think the U.S. or Europe can substantively influence the course of the China-Russia partnership at the moment,” he said.

This week, President Joe Biden drastically increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, steel and aluminum products, and semiconductors. The move follows his administration’s review of former President Donald Trump's trade policies toward China. White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara looks at how the two presidential candidates differ in their approach.

Gigantic metal sculptures made by Kosovo-born artist Petrit Halilaj adorn the rooftop of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in an ode to a childhood affected by war. Garentina Kraja has the story. Camera: Vladimir Badikov 

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Taipei, Taiwan — When Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te is sworn into office on May 20, he will be facing what is perhaps the toughest first term of any leader the democratically ruled island of 23 million has ever elected since 1996.  Analysts say that Lai will not only need to carefully manage relations with China but also need to work to maintain steady ties with Washington during an election year. Branded a secessionist by Beijing, China has beefed up the scale and frequency of military activities and coast guard patrols near Taiwan since Lai was elected in January. Beijing has also opened new flight routes near Taiwan’s outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu in April, which some analysts view as an attempt to redefine the longstanding status quo across the Taiwan Strait.    Such efforts are widely seen as part of China’s pressure campaign towards Taiwan. But unlike the large-scale military exercises the Chinese military held around the island in 2022 and 2023, Beijing’s recent actions are “quieter” by comparison, said Amanda Hsiao, a senior China analyst at the International Crisis Group.   China is trying “to present itself as seeking peaceful unification and doesn’t want to be seen as a provocateur,” Hsiao said.  China views Taiwan as part of its territory and has repeatedly vowed to reunite with the island, by force if necessary.  Lai’s four-year presidency falls within the time fame U.S. military and intelligence officials have publicly said Chinese leader Xi Jinping has set for the Chinese military to have an invasion plan in place by 2027. The date also marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army. Some Taiwanese experts say while the Lai administration should be aware of the significance of 2027, they shouldn’t arrange Taiwan’s preparation for a potential Chinese invasion around this timeframe. “2027 shouldn’t be viewed as the definitive year that China will invade Taiwan, because Beijing’s calculation involves a lot of factors, including the dynamics across the Taiwan Strait,” said Li Da-Jung, director of the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies at Taiwan’s Tamkang University.  In his view, the Lai administration should prioritize efforts to strengthen Taiwan’s capabilities to defend itself and deter China from invading the island.  Boosting exchanges Since Taiwan’s pro-sovereignty Democratic Progressive Party came to power in 2016, China has cut off all official communication and increased the level of pressure against Taiwan.  Beijing has also suggested that it’s open to increasing exchange with Taipei by lifting some travel restrictions and hosting several delegations from Taiwan’s China-friendly opposition party Kuomintang.  Increasing exchanges with China-friendly actors in Taiwan “will be a major focus in the near term for China,” Hsiao said.  For his part, Lai has said he is committed to maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and that he is willing to engage with Beijing on the basis of dignity and parity. In a pre-recorded speech this week at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit 2024, he said, "I will not rule out dialogue with China on the principles of mutual respect, mutual benefits, and dignity, with no preconditions.”  China’s offer to reopen cross-strait exchanges, especially resuming group tourism between China and Taiwan, is both an opportunity and a challenge for Taiwan’s new government.  “The Lai administration could point to the return of group tourism as an early success in their term and this would be a useful way of signaling to international partners that they are responsibly handling their relationship with Beijing,” Hsiao said.  However, she added that the Lai administration should also be mindful of the potential costs of accepting offers from Beijing.  “A return to group tourism could create some dependencies on China that Beijing could leverage and exploit next time they are unhappy with the relationship,” Hsiao told VOA.  For now, she thinks the Chinese government will try to “lean on” the United States and opposition parties in Taiwan to keep the new Taiwanese government “on a more moderate course.”  Lai’s inauguration speech will be “a key indicator” of his administration’s approach to China. “How he talks about and defines cross-strait relationships will be significant,” Hsiao told VOA. Washington announced this week that they will send an unofficial delegation – which includes two former senior U.S. officials and a scholar – to attend the inauguration. Continuity in U.S.-Taiwan relations  While tensions between China and Taiwan will likely remain high, some experts say relations between the United States and Taiwan will largely remain unchanged under the new Taiwanese government, since bilateral ties have reached a new level of stability during Tsai Ing-wen’s tenure.   “So much of what we are looking forward to in the U.S.-Taiwan relationship, whether [it] is meaningful bilateral trade agreement or more robust defensive military sales, are all things that rely on the groundwork laid out by Tsai and previous administrations in Taiwan,” said Lev Nachman, a political scientist at National Chengchi University in Taiwan.  However, despite the predictability of the new Taiwanese government’s policy direction toward the U.S., Nachman said the U.S. Presidential election in November, which will likely be a rematch between current President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, could add uncertainties to relations between Taipei and Washington.  “What Biden represents is a level of predictability and certainty and that’s important in this part of the world when both sides of the Taiwan Strait are operating off imperfect information about what the other side is going to do,” he told VOA in a video interview.  But if Trump wins the election in November, Nachman said Taiwan’s new administration should be prepared for some uncertainties. A potential Trump presidency “brings uncertainty, imperfect information, and a level of no pragmatism from the U.S. that would be the biggest challenge for Taiwan and the entire [Indo-Pacific] region to navigate,” he added.   Tamkang University’s Li said the Lai administration should start engaging with Trump’s advisors as soon as possible. “Taiwan’s incoming government should maintain close communication with Trump’s advisors and highlight the importance of Taiwan during bilateral conversations,” he told VOA. Efforts to diversify Taiwan’s foreign relations  While relations with China and the U.S. dominate Taiwan’s foreign policy agenda, the island has increased its diplomatic engagements with European countries during Tsai’s second term.  “The EU and Taiwan have been thinking about how they can strengthen cooperation in certain areas while being mindful of potential limitations [over the last four years,]” Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an expert on EU-Taiwan relations at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan, told VOA in a video interview.  Since 2020, Taiwan has deepened its economic engagement with some Central and Eastern European countries. In 2021, Taiwan opened a trade office in Lithuania under the name “Taiwan” instead of the island’s official name, the Republic of China.  Since then, it has signed several cooperation agreements related to bilateral tech collaboration with countries like Lithuania and the Czech Republic.  Additionally, Taiwan has hosted several high-level parliamentary delegations from Lithuania and the Czech Republic in recent years. Ferenczy and Nachman both said that while these visits have helped to elevate mutual understanding and interests between Taiwan and some European countries, the new government under Lai should focus on adding substance to these newly elevated ties.  The Lai administration “needs to approach these newfound allies with a level of pragmatism [by] pursuing meaningful alliances in trade or [increase] exchanges,” Nachman told VOA.

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SYDNEY — Australian scientists say they have discovered how an enzyme “hidden in nature’s blueprint” could help develop climate-resilient crops able to remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  An Australian study, by researchers from Australian National University and the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, focuses on a type of bacteria researchers call “tiny carbon superheroes.”  Cyanobacteria, a type of algae-like bacteria also called blue-green algae, are found in fresh and coastal waters, as well as oceans.  They are commonly known for their toxic blooms in lakes and rivers.   Through the process of photosynthesis, Australian scientists say, they capture about 12% of the world’s carbon dioxide each year.  Their study says a carbon dioxide-concentrating mechanism in cyanobacteria lets them turn atmospheric carbon dioxide into sugars for cells to eat more quickly than most standard plants and crops. Until now, the Australian team was unaware how critical an enzyme in cyanobacteria, called carboxysomal carbonic anhydrase, was to the process. The study says the mystery of how the enzyme maximizes the cyanobacteria’s ability to extract atmospheric carbon dioxide has been solved. Ben Long, a senior lecturer in molecular plant biology at Australia's University of Newcastle and is the study’s lead author. He told VOA that the aim is to engineer crops that can absorb more greenhouse gases.    “We are actually interested in utilizing this CO2-concentrating mechanism from cyanobacteria, which we know is a remarkably efficiently system for capturing CO2 and we want to engineer that into plant cells to make plant cells able to capture CO2 far more effectively and efficiently,” Long said. The research says that engineered plants that are more efficient at capturing carbon dioxide could increase crop yield, making global food systems that are more resilient to climate change.  Long says the findings should be part of international efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.   “Every technology has to be brought to bear to try to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce CO2 in the atmosphere and I think to date we have not really focused much on those potential biological applications to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Long said. The study has been published in the journal Science Advances.

Goma, DR Congo — Reputed to be the coltan capital of the world, the mining town of Rubaya, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has fallen into the hands of rebels. The fall of Rubaya is causing a stir among local residents who fear M23 will use profits from the coltan mines to fund their war against the DRC government. Estimated to hold more than 70 percent of the planet's coltan reserves, the town of Rubaya has been under the control of the M23 rebels since April 30.  According to Mapenzi Mulume, a young man from Masisi territory, the rebels have set up teams to exploit the minerals 24 hours a day, and women and children are also invited to join, he laments. He says that since the M23 rebels occupied the mining town of Rubaya, they've been mining 24 hours a day. He noted that children are working in rotating shifts. He said he deplores child labor and calls on the international community to intervene on behalf of the people of Rubaya.   The M23 rebels have been fighting the DRC government since 2021, following an earlier conflict that ended with a government victory. People in Masisi territory fear the rise in power of the rebels and their allies in the Rwandan army. Exaucé Kavatsawa, a local resident, believes the rebels have achieved one of their primary objectives with the conquest of the important coltan reserve. He says that Rubaya is a really rich deposit of coltan and other raw materials, and so the fall of Rubaya is a salvation for the M23. He says the access to Rubaya will enable the rebels to find the means to finance their war.   In a communiqué issued by the Ministry of Mines, the Congolese government asserted that, since the occupation of Rubaya by the M23, tons of raw materials from the Democratic Republic of Congo have been crossing the Rwandan border on a daily basis via the Nyiragongo territory occupied by the M23. Rwanda has not commented on the issue. These assertions are rejected by the rebels, whose military spokesman is Major Willy Ngoma. He confirms that mining continues in the mines, but he asserts it is by local indigenous populations. He says the struggle of the government is not about minerals, and asserts that none of their authorities, civil or military, can get involved in this mineral trafficking business. When a citizen is in his own backyard, he says, digging, finding something and selling it, it has nothing to do with the authorities. The population can sell because they are free in their country, and we only ensure their security.    The M23 rebels have extended their zone of control beyond the town of Rubaya in recent weeks, where the minerals of cassiterite and manganese are also mined in considerable quantities.

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PARIS — French police on Friday shot dead an armed man who was trying to set fire to a synagogue in the northern city of Rouen. "National police in Rouen neutralized early this morning an armed individual who clearly wanted to set fire to the city's synagogue," Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Police responded at 6:45 am (0445 GMT) to reports of "fire near the synagogue," a police source said. A source close to the case told AFP the man "was armed with a knife and an iron bar, he approached police, who fired. The individual died." "It is not only the Jewish community that is affected. It is the entire city of Rouen that is bruised and in shock," Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol wrote on X. He made clear there were no other victims other than the attacker. Two separate investigations have been opened, one into the fire at the synagogue and another into the circumstances of the death of the individual killed by the police, Rouen prosecutors said. Such an investigation by France's police inspectorate general is automatic whenever an individual is killed by the police. The man threatened a police officer with a knife and the latter used his service weapon, said the Rouen prosecutor. The dead man was not immediately identified, a police source said. Asked by AFP, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office said that it is currently assessing whether it will take up the case. France has the largest Jewish community of any country after Israel and the United States, as well as Europe's largest Muslim community. There have been tensions in France in the wake of the October 7 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel, followed by the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Red hand graffiti was painted onto France's Holocaust Memorial earlier this week, prompted anger including from President Emmanuel Macron who condemned "odious anti-Semitism." "Attempting to burn a synagogue is an attempt to intimidate all Jews. Once again, there is an attempt to impose a climate of terror on the Jews of our country. Combating anti-Semitism means defending the Republic," Yonathan Arfi, the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF), wrote on X. France was hit from 2015 by a spate of Islamist attacks that also hit Jewish targets. There have been isolated attacks in recent months and France's security alert remains at its highest level.

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Seoul, South Korea — North Korea has fired at least one "unidentified ballistic missile," Seoul's military said Friday, hours after leader Kim Jong Un's powerful sister denied widespread allegations that Pyongyang is shipping weapons to Russia. North Korea "fires unidentified ballistic missile toward East Sea," Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. Japanese broadcaster NHK, citing government sources, said the missile "appeared to be short range and has already fallen." The launch came hours after Kim Yo Jong accused Seoul and Washington of "misleading the public opinion" on the issue with their repeated accusations that Pyongyang is sending weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine. She said the North's "tactical weapons including multiple rocket launchers and missiles shown by us recently are produced to discharge the only one mission... to prevent Seoul from inventing any idle thinking." The launch is the latest since the North fired a volley of what Seoul said were short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on April 22. North Korea is barred by rafts of U.N. sanctions from any tests using ballistic technology, but its key ally Russia used its U.N. Security Council veto in March to effectively end U.N. monitoring of violations, for which Pyongyang has specifically thanked Moscow. The U.N. panel of experts was investigating allegations that North Korea was transferring weapons to Moscow, with Seoul claiming in March that some 7,000 containers of arms had been sent to Russia for use in Ukraine since around July 2023. Washington and experts have said Pyongyang is seeking a range of military assistance from Russia in return, such as satellite technology and upgrading its Soviet-era military equipment. The North said last week it would equip its military with a new 240mm multiple rocket launcher this year, adding that a "significant change" for the army's artillery combat capabilities was under way. Reaction to drills? Kim Jong Un inspected a new tactical missile weapons system Tuesday and called for an "epochal change" in war preparations by achieving arsenal production targets. Analysts say the nuclear-armed North could be ramping up production and testing of artillery and cruise missiles before sending them to Russia for use in Ukraine. The launch also comes a day after advanced South Korean and U.S. stealth fighters, including Washington's F-22 Raptors, staged joint air combat drills. Such drills infuriate North Korea, which views them as rehearsals for invasion. The North has appeared especially sensitive to air drills in the past, with experts noting its air force is the weakest link in its military. "It appears that this is a counter-military demonstration in response to recent South Korea-US air exercises," Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP. "It also appears to contain a warning message regarding the large-scale South Korea-U.S. joint exercises scheduled for August," Yang said. Inter-Korean relations are at one of their lowest points in years, with Pyongyang declaring South Korea its "principal enemy." It has jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and threatened war over "even 0.001 mm" of territorial infringement.