South Sudan, North Korea, Ethiopia.

Today's three stories you should know.

Mar 18, 2023

South Sudan

At least 10 people, including three children, have been killed in South Sudan after they mistook unexploded military ordnance for scrap metal. Mines and other unexploded ordnance are a major problem for the country, which is still recovering from a civil war that mostly ended in 2018. The United Nations Mine Action Service estimates that more than 5,000 South Sudanese have been killed by unexploded ordnance since 2004, and hundreds of them have been children. South Sudan, the world’s youngest country, has been beset by conflict and chaos since gaining independence in 2011.

North Korea

About 800,000 North Koreans have joined up or reenlisted in the military to fight the US and other enemies should war erupt, a state newspaper has reported. The Rodong Sinmum paper said the volunteers had promised to “completely wipe out” the country’s enemies and featured images of long lines of people queuing to sign up. The North said it was responding to “provocative and aggressive” military drills from South Korea and the US. South Korean and US forces began 11 days of joint military drills, dubbed “Freedom Shield 23”, on Monday. The North, the South and the US engage in almost constant sabre-rattling and posturing against each other.

Ethiopia

Some potentially positive news for Ethiopia’s Tigray region as it struggles to begin recovering from two years of war. The UN children agency’s education chief, Chance Briggs, has told the BBC that a plan to re-open schools has begun. A quarter of all schools in Tigray were damaged during the war, according to Human Rights Watch, and teachers have not been paid for two years. They are looking for a mid-April start date but that is yet to be endorsed," Briggs said. “The whole of the education system in Tigray has collapsed. Since July we have 2.3 million children out of school.”