Key takeaways:
- South Korea said multiple missiles were launched from the Pyongyang area; one flew more than 900 kilometers, according to Al Jazeera.
- Japan’s Defense Ministry detected at least two missiles and assessed that they landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
- Three South Korean soldiers were injured in a border mine blast that a South Korean-U.N. investigation attributed to North Korea, which denies responsibility.
North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast Monday, South Korea’s military said, extending a run of weapons tests amid heightened tensions with Seoul and a prolonged freeze in diplomacy.
The missiles were launched from the area around Pyongyang, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The military did not specify how many it detected. One missile flew more than 900 kilometers (559 miles), the joint chiefs said, according to Al Jazeera.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said it detected at least two missiles and assessed that they landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Japan’s coast guard separately reported two projectiles believed to be ballistic missiles that appeared to have already fallen.
South Korea’s presidential office said Pyongyang’s repeated launches violate United Nations Security Council resolutions and urged it to stop immediately, Al Jazeera reported. Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson Jang Do-young said the latest launch appeared to be a show of force following South Korea’s test of a hypersonic missile.
The South Korean test took place late last week. CBS News reported that the country flight-tested its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon on Friday, while Al Jazeera said President Lee Jae Myung oversaw its first test-firing on Thursday. CBS said the weapon is designed to fly at least five times the speed of sound and evade missile defenses. Lee described the test as an important step toward strengthening South Korea’s conventional defense capabilities. His office said the weapon, once fully developed, would improve the South’s ability to strike key targets by surprise in the “Korean Peninsula theatre of operations,” according to Al Jazeera.
North Korea tested what it described as a hypersonic intermediate-range missile on Oct. 3, designed to evade missile defenses in South Korea and Japan. It has also conducted other missile tests and live-fire drills and commissioned a new warship, CBS News reported. Leader Kim Jong Un has continued to promote his nuclear weapons program while rejecting U.S. and South Korean offers to restart talks.
A land mine blast near the heavily armed border injured three South Korean soldiers last month. South Korea’s military and the U.S.-led United Nations Command concluded that North Korea planted the devices. Al Jazeera reported that a joint investigation found two mines had been planted about a year earlier. Pyongyang denied responsibility, dismissed Seoul’s demand for an apology and accused the South of provocation.
Lee pledged to reopen dialogue with North Korea after taking office in 2025. But Kim has halted cooperation with Seoul and called it a permanent enemy. His talks with U.S. President Donald Trump broke down in 2019, and Pyongyang continues to demand that Washington abandon what it calls a “hostile” policy and drop denuclearization demands as a precondition for renewed talks.
Lee has also called for stronger South Korean conventional defenses and less reliance on the United States. Washington decided to scale back a major military exercise with South Korea in August, with Trump citing his “very good relationship” with Kim, CBS News reported.
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