Latest (Sunday night): South Korea’s military has now confirmed the launches in detail, upgrading the story beyond the earlier Japanese claim. The two ballistic missiles, which appeared to be of different types, were fired at around 9:20 a.m. local time Monday (0020 GMT) from near Pyongyang, and one type flew more than 900 km (559 miles), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Japan’s coast guard had earlier said North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles, believed to be ballistic missiles, that appeared to have already fallen. South Korea’s National Security Office convened an emergency meeting, condemned the launches as violations of UN Security Council resolutions, and urged an immediate stop.
Seoul framed the launches as a direct answer to its own weapons test: last week President Lee Jae Myung oversaw South Korea’s first test-firing of a hypersonic missile, a rare public showcasing of a missile test by a South Korean president. Monday’s launches appeared to be “a show of force in response to the successful test launch of our hypersonic missile, as well as an intentional demonstration of missile capabilities,” a Joint Chiefs spokesperson said.
The tests followed a border mine blast last month that wounded three South Korean soldiers, which Seoul blamed on Pyongyang. North Korea has conducted missile tests on more than 10 occasions this year, including four in the last month; its last launch was October 3, which state media KCNA said was a hypersonic missile supervised by Kim Jong Un. Analysts say the unusually frequent tests are meant to raise Pyongyang’s leverage ahead of a potential summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump.
Japan’s Coast Guard said North Korea presumably launched two ballistic missiles on Sunday, according to an account of the Japanese claim carried by TASS. The Coast Guard issued a launch notice, then reported two minutes later that the first projectile had already fallen; notice of the second missile’s fall came eight minutes after the launch notice, per the account. Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that the first missile fell outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. TASS revised its item from one missile to two during the evening. The claims are unconfirmed: this account rests on Japanese officials’ statements relayed through Russian state media, and Pyongyang has not commented.