North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles early today, South Korea said, in a show of force that came just one day after Seoul wrapped up five days of joint maritime drills with the United States and Japan aimed squarely at deterring Pyongyang.
Last month, the North denounced plans for the so-called Freedom Edge exercises in international waters off South Korea, calling them a “threat” to North Korea and other countries in the region.
Seoul’s military said it detected “multiple short-range ballistic missiles launched from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea,” also known as the Sea of Japan, according to a statement from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The launches were picked up at about 5.20am South Korean time (8.20pm Irish time yesterday), the JCS said, adding that the missiles travelled roughly 250km.
South Korean and US intelligence authorities “have tracked and shared relevant developments since the initial stage of the launch and also shared information regarding the … missile with Japan,” the statement said.
The latest firing follows North Korea’s most recent test on 20 August, when it launched a barrage of missiles into the sea even as US President Donald Trump signalled renewed diplomacy, saying he intended to meet this year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
That August salvo from the nuclear-armed North coincided with South Korea and the United States holding a shortened version of their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, after Mr Trump ordered the drills scaled back.
The decision unsettled US allies in the region, with the president describing the exercises as “inappropriate and hostile” toward North Korea.
Still, Seoul’s spy agency told politicians earlier this month that a summit between the United States and North Korea appeared possible “at any time,” pointing to signs that channels of dialogue had reopened.
During his first term, Mr Trump met Mr Kim three times — at one point declaring they were “in love” — in a series of high-profile summits billed as a path to a denuclearisation deal, though no tangible progress was made.
‘An evident disaster’
Pyongyang has long portrayed US-South Korea joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion and has frequently answered them with missile launches, keeping the peninsula on a familiar cycle of drills and tests.
Mr Trump, who has sought to revive the relationship he says he built with Mr Kim during his first term, told reporters at the White House on 19 August that he planned to meet the North Korean leader this year.
The US president also said it was important to “get along” with Mr Kim, adding that Pyongyang now possessed 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons.
Within hours of the 20 August missile launches, Kim Yo Jong — the influential sister of the North Korean leader — argued that Mr Trump’s move to scale back the drills was, in effect, punishment for Seoul.
In a statement, she described it as “an evident disaster brought by the unrealistic and anachronistic security outlook” pursued by South Korea, and claimed the South maintained a “master-and-servant” relationship with the United States.
