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North Korea has blown up a joint liaison office with the South near the North’s border town of Kaesong.

The move comes just hours after the North renewed threats of military action at the Korean border.

The site was opened in 2018 to help the Koreas – officially in a state of war – to communicate. It had been empty since January due to Covid-19 restrictions.

In a statement, South Korea warned it would «respond strongly» if the North «continues to worsen the situation». The destruction of the office, it said, «abandons the hopes of everyone who wanted the development of inter-Korean relations and peace settlement in the Korean Peninsula». «The government makes it clear that all responsibility of this situation lies in the North.»

Tensions between North and South Korea have been escalating for weeks, prompted by defector groups in the South sending propaganda across the border.

The North Korean leader’s sister, Kim Yo-jong – considered a close and powerful ally – threatened at the weekend to demolish the office. Her brother, Kim Jong-un, has ruled North Korea as Supreme Leader since 2011.

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Ex-US marine Paul Whelan has been sentenced to 16 years of hard labour on spying charges in Russia.

He was arrested in a hotel room in Moscow 18 months ago with a USB flash drive which security officers say contained state secrets.

The Moscow City Court found him guilty of receiving classified information.

Whelan – who is also a citizen of the UK, Canada and Ireland – denounced the closed trial as a «sham» ahead of the verdict. The US ambassador to Moscow, John Sullivan, condemned the trial as unfair and lacking transparency, and said the conviction would harm Russia-US relations.

«This secret trial in which no evidence was produced is an egregious violation of human rights and international legal norms,» an embassy spokeswoman said.

A US Air Force pilot is missing after a fighter jet crashed into the North Sea.

The F-15C Eagle, from the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, crashed shortly after 09:40 BST while on a training mission. The cause of the crash is currently unknown but the US Air Force confirmed only one pilot was on board.

Search and rescue teams are looking for the aircraft, which is believed to have crashed 74 nautical miles off the East Yorkshire coast.

A spokeswoman for HM Coastguard said: «The HM Coastguard helicopter from Humberside has been sent along with Bridlington and Scarborough RNLI lifeboats. «Following a Mayday broadcast by HM Coastguard, other vessels nearby are heading to the area.»

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A school deputy head has been killed and children wounded in an apparent knife attack in northern Slovakia.

The attacker, a 22-year-old man, was a former pupil who had broken into the school in the town of Vrutky. Police said they had later shot dead the attacker and the situation was under control.

Among those taken to hospital with stab wounds were two children. The school is said to include a kindergarten, primary school and senior school.

Police chief Gen Milan Lucansky described how the attacker broke a glass door to gain access to the school and then used a knife when confronted with the school’s deputy head.

The deputy was fatally wounded and the caretaker was also hurt.

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A Turkish employee of the US consulate in Istanbul has been sentenced to almost nine years in prison for aiding a terrorist organisation.

Metin Topuz was arrested in 2017 and accused of having links to an «armed terror group» that Turkey blames for a failed coup the previous year. He was jailed for eight years and nine months in Istanbul on Thursday.

Mr Topuz denies the allegations. The US has said there is «no credible evidence» to support his conviction. Mr Topuz is reported to have spent decades working as a translator and fixer for the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Istanbul.

He was accused of making contact with officials, including police officers and a prosecutor, who were suspected of having ties to the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has blamed the 2016 coup – which triggered a massive crackdown and saw scores of people killed – on Mr Gulen and people he accuses of being his followers. Mr Gulen denies any involvement.

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