U.S. Special Representative for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Sung Kim reaffirmed the aspiration during calls Tuesday with key officials in the Japanese and South Korean governments, according to State Department readouts published Thursday. Kim made the calls in response to North Korea firing a hypersonic missile on Tuesday. Kim reached out to Funakoshi Takehiro, a Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs senior official for Asia and Oceania; and Noh Kyu-duk, South Korea’s special representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs....

North Korea has spent $584,302 on importing at least 138 horses from Russia between 2010 and 2019, Reuters reports. This includes a dozen Russian horses worth $75,509.76, according to Russian customs data made available by the government, Seoul-based NK News reports. The October purchase was said to be the country’s largest buy since 2015, when it imported 61 horses for $192,204, Reuters reports. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was pictured last October on a white steed galloping across the snow-clad slopes of Mount Paektu, where he “took a bird’s-eye view of mountains that looked like the high steep mountains of the revolution he has to pass in high spirits,” reported the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea’s state news agency, at the time....

The launch follows a recent streak of weapons testing from North Korea since the start of the year. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has warned that the country wants to launch a long-range missile in the coming year. Such a launch would represent a major security risk to South Korea, Japan and other U.S. allies in eastern Asia. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t say what North Korea’s fired projectile was or how far they believed it had traveled, the Associated Press reported....

In a statement released on Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, sister to Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, called the South’s defense minister, Suh Wook, a “scum-like guy” for raising the possibility of preemptive strikes against its northern adversary. Kim, who South Korea’s spy service says is the North’s number two official behind her brother, further derided Suh as “reckless” and warned that the South could face a “serious threat,” The Guardian reported....

Pictures of the event show the 36-year-old cutting a ribbon for the plant. KCNA reported that attendees “broke into thunderous cheers of hurrahs” when he made his appearance. Kim expressed praised the factory’s contribution to the country’s food and chemical industries, the North Korean news agency added. “[Kim] warmly acknowledged the builders and masses raising thunderous cheers” the agency continued, reporting that he then toured the factory alongside senior officials from the ruling Workers’ Party and his only sister, Kim Yo Jong....

NIU will play Toledo on Nov. 9 in a matchup of two traditional Mid-American Conference powers in a game billed the “Huskie Chi-Town Showdown.” MORE: NBA live odds page | Are you getting a fair price on MLB futures? “This is a historical moment and an outstanding day,” NIU athletic director Sean Frazier said in a statement. “Our fans have said, come back to Chicago, come to the city. Well, we’ve listened and we’re back!...

How excited? Just take a look. MORE: Best photos of college football Week 5 | Northwestern coach busts a move after upset win over Stanford The dance, of course, was deserved. Northwestern not only shut out the Gophers, they held them to 4 of 16 on third down, 0 for 4 on fourth down, gave up only 173 total yards and returned a fumble for a touchdown. Plus, Northwestern’s now 5-0 on the season....

But all is changed in Ireland: Mother Church is going through an agonizing reappraisal, the Irish censor hardly knows what to do with his idleness and priggishness is as rare as chastity. If you’d been in Dublin on June 16 this year, you might have observed people parading through the streets in garb more appropriate to the year 1904. Many a tourist wondered if he/she had gone into a time warp–but there was an explanation, and the explanation is that Dublin has caught on....

Across the country in Georgia and South Carolina, the cameras captured still more devastating scenes: farm crops dried and withered in the state’s worst drought since 1986. But in the Southeast, as in Iowa, there was some sweeter, if little publicized, economic news: despite farmers’ woes, most of the buying public won’t be affected by the drought. Grain from other parts of the country should help even out supplies, and irrigation has helped preserve the peach crop....

After suffering a severe knee injury in September that cost him his final season at UCLA, Jack was unable to participate in any of the on-field drills at last month’s NFL Scouting Combine. He was hoping to do all of the drills Tuesday, but is still only 80 percent healed from a torn meniscus. MORE: Highest-paid defensive players | Gruden compliments Wentz Although he did not run the 40-yard dash or do any of the shuttle runs, he did do some positional drills and had an impressive 40-inch vertical leap....

“I prefer them being all the way (in the ACC), but that’s just not the way it is right now,” said North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora on Tuesday at ACC Kickoff. MORE: Top 15 programs since 2000 | 10 greatest Notre Dame players | Toughest ACC non-con schedules The Fighting Irish have resisted fully joining a conference — they are full ACC members in all sports except football and hockey — but have agreed to schedule five ACC games a year....

Nouri collapsed during Ajax’s friendly against Werder Bremen in Austria on Saturday, where he received medical attention on the field before being taken to hospital in a trauma helicopter. The 20-year-old recovered a stable heart rate and a CT scan earlier this week did not show any abnormalities, but Ajax confirmed in a statement on Thursday that he had suffered serious and permanent brain damage. Nouri tragedy devastates Dutch football...

The Australian government had said it would pursue ways to deport the player for not being vaccinated against COVID after he won a court appeal against a previous visa cancellation. Australia’s immigration minister, Alex Hawke, said on Friday he had exercised his power under the country’s Migration Act to cancel the player’s visa “on health and good order grounds, on the basis that it was in the public interest to do so....

“Without pressure there is no professional sport,” Djokovic said. “If you are aiming to be at the top of the game you better start learning how to deal with pressure and how to cope with those moments — on the court but also off the court.” Djokovic said he feels pressure is a “privilege” for athletes at such high levels. He acknowledged he learned to deal with pressure, and struggled more with it at the beginning of his career when he did not have as many wins as his rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal....

The Argentine already had missed six matches because of suspension this campaign for spitting at Pachuca winger Hirving Lozano, meaning he’ll be out for 13 of 17 regular season matches this tournament. In the March 22 friendly, Novaretti took issue with a penalty awarded when the ball appeared to hit the arm of a sliding Andres Andrade. “He made a mistake, but they’ve said a lot of things that I can’t understand, a bunch of false things that didn’t happen,” Leon coach Javier Torrente said before the suspension was handed down....

But nothing could spare the hostage families from another week of ups and downs. First the Lebanese kidnappers released British journalist John McCarthy,34,who was seized in Beirut more than five years ago. They sent a letter with him, evidently proposing a solution to the hostage problem. There were rumors that another prisoner would be freed soon-probably an American, perhaps even Terry Anderson, the Associated Press bureau chief who has been held the longest of all the captives....