North Korea fires multiple ballistic missiles towards the sea | Kim Jong Un News

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said one of the missiles launched from the Pyongyang area flew more than 900km.

North Korea has fired multiple ballistic missiles towards the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s military says.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said one of the missiles launched from the Pyongyang area flew more than 900km (559 miles) on Monday. The joint chiefs did not specify how many missiles were detected.

Japan’s Deputy Defence Minister Takashi Koyari said at least two missiles were launched 17 minutes apart and landed in waters outside of its exclusive economic zone.

Koyari said the first missile flew about 220 kilometres (137 miles) and the second more than 910 kilometres (565 miles), following an “irregular” flight path and suggested it may have been a hypersonic weapon.

South Korea’s presidential office said that Pyongyang’s repeated missile launches violate United Nations Security Council resolutions, urging an immediate stop.

Monday’s launches add to heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, as both countries have been conducting weapons tests.

Escalating tensions

JCS spokesperson Jang Do-young said the latest missile launch appears to be a show of force, days after South Korea tested its own hypersonic weapon.

On Thursday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung oversaw the country’s first test-firing of a hypersonic missile, a rare public showcasing of a missile test by a South Korean president.

Lee’s office said the hypersonic weapon, once fully developed, would enhance South Korea’s ability to strike key targets by surprise in the “Korean Peninsula theatre of operations”.

On October 3, North Korea also tested a hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to evade missile defences in South Korea and Japan.

Last week, Seoul demanded an apology after a landmine blast wounded three soldiers in the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea. A joint South Korean-UN investigation concluded that two landmines were planted by North Korean forces about a year ago. Pyongyang dismissed the claim and accused South Korea of provocation.

Prior to the border mine blast, Seoul said it was conducting “preliminary coordination efforts” to facilitate dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington.

Lee pledged to reopen dialogue with North Korea in his first speech after taking office in 2025.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to flaunt his nuclear weapons programme, while rejecting US and South Korean offers to resume stalled diplomacy.

Talks between Kim and United States President Donald Trump abruptly ended in 2019. Kim Jong Un’s government continues to demand that Washington abandon its “hostile” policy towards Pyongyang and drop demands for North Korea’s denuclearisation as a condition for talks.