UDINE, Italy (AP) — Roma defender Evan Ndicka collapsed toward the end of his team’s Serie A match at Udinese on Sunday, causing the game to be called off.
The score was 1-1 when Ndicka fell to the ground in the 71st minute — with the action at the other end of the field — and started pointing at his chest.
The players and the referee frantically called for medical assistance. Ndicka was able to put his thumb up to the crowd as the 24-year-old Ivory Coast international was stretchered off barely two minutes later.
Roma coach Daniele De Rossi immediately followed them down the tunnel. When he returned, he talked to his players and also spoke with Udinese counterpart Andrea Sottil.
Fans then applauded the announcement that the match would be continued at a later date.
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Roma's Evan Ndicka is carried off the pitch on a stretcher during the Serie A soccer match between Udinese and Roma at the Bluenergy Stadium in Udine, Italy, Sunday, April 14, 2024. (Andrea Bressanutti/LaPresse via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again denied Friday that her country has exported any weapons to Russia, as she labeled outside speculation on North Korea-Russian arms dealings as “the most absurd paradox.”
The U.S., South Korea and others have steadfastly accused North Korea of supplying artillery, missiles and other conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine in return for advanced military technologies and economic aid. Both North Korea and Russia have repeatedly dismissed that.
Foreign experts believe North Korea's recent series of artillery and short-range missile tests were meant to examine or advertise the weapons it was planning to sell to Russia.
Kim Yo Jong called outside assessments on the North Korean-Russian dealings “the most absurd paradox which is not worth making any evaluation or interpretation.”
“We have no intention to export our military technical capabilities to any country or open them to the public,” she said in a statement carried by state media.
She said North Korea’s recent weapons tests were purely performed as parts of the country’s five-year arms buildup plan launched in 2021. She added that the recently tested weapons are designed to attack Seoul, the South Korean capital.
“We don’t conceal the fact that such weapons will be used to prevent Seoul from inventing any idle thinking,” Kim Yo Jong said.
In March, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Wonsik said North Korea had shipped about 7,000 containers filled with munitions and other military equipment to Russia since last year. In return, Shin said that North Korea had received more than 9,000 Russian containers likely filled with aid.
In January, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said North Korea-supplied missiles had been fired on Ukraine. At the time, Ukraine officials also said an investigation of the debris of a missile found in its northeastern Kharkiv region showed the weapon likely was from North Korea.
Any weapons trade with North Korea would be a violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions that Russia, a permanent U.N. Security Council member, previously endorsed.
In May, the White House also said Russia was shipping refined petroleum to North Korea at levels that exceed U.N. Security Council limits.
The deepening North Korean-Russia ties come as both countries are locked in separate confrontations with the United States — North Korea over its advancing nuclear program and Russia over its protracted war in Ukraine.
Since 2022, North Korea has conducted a provocative run of missiles tests, prompting the U.S. to expand its military drills with South Korea and Japan. Foreign experts say North Korea likely thinks an enlarged weapons arsenal would boost its leverage in future diplomacy with the United States.
Follow AP's Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific
FILE - Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam, March 2, 2019. On Friday, May 17, 2024, Kim Yo Jong again denied that her country has exported any weapons to Russia, as she labeled outside speculation on North Korea-Russian arms dealings as “the most absurd paradox.” (Jorge Silva/Pool Photo via AP, File)
