North Korea has launched multiple ballistic missiles towards the sea off its east coast, according to South Korea’s military. The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported that one of the missiles traveled over 900 kilometers (559 miles) from the Pyongyang area on Monday, although the exact number of missiles launched was not specified. Japan’s coastguard also reported that North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles, believed to be ballistic missiles, which appeared to have already fallen.
South Korea’s presidential office stated that these missile launches violate United Nations Security Council resolutions and called for an immediate cessation. The recent missile launch contributes to rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula, with both North and South Korea conducting weapons tests.
JCS spokesperson Jang Do-young indicated that the latest missile launch seems to be a demonstration of strength following South Korea’s hypersonic missile test-fire. On Thursday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung oversaw the country’s inaugural test-firing of a hypersonic missile, marking a rare public display of such a test by a South Korean president. Lee’s office noted that the hypersonic weapon, once fully developed, would improve South Korea’s capability to strike critical targets unexpectedly in the Korean Peninsula theatre of operations.
On October 3, North Korea also tested a hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to evade missile defenses in South Korea and Japan. Last week, Seoul demanded an apology after a landmine explosion injured three soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas. A joint South Korean-UN investigation determined that two landmines had been planted by North Korean forces approximately one year ago, a claim that Pyongyang dismissed, accusing South Korea of provocation.
Before the landmine incident, Seoul had been engaging in preliminary coordination efforts to facilitate dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington. President Lee expressed a commitment to reopening dialogue with North Korea in his first speech after taking office in 2025. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to showcase his nuclear weapons program while rejecting US and South Korean proposals to resume stalled diplomatic efforts. Talks between Kim and US President Donald Trump ended abruptly in 2019, with Kim’s government insisting that Washington abandon its 'hostile' policy towards Pyongyang and drop its demands for North Korea’s denuclearization as a precondition for negotiations.