North Korea fired about 10 unidentified ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Saturday, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of “terrible consequences” over South Korea-US military drills.
Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with South Korea, Washington’s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a “clumsy, deceptive farce”.
Seoul’s military detected “around ten unidentified ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea at around 1:20 pm (0420 GMT),” the JCS said in a statement.
Japan’s defence ministry also confirmed the launch, saying on its official X account that “what is possibly a ballistic missile was launched from North Korea”.
The announcement came hours after South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said that US President Donald Trump thinks a meeting with Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong Un would be “good”.
Washington has for decades led efforts to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear programme, but summits, sanctions and diplomatic pressure have had little impact.
The Trump administration has pushed in recent months to revive high-level talks with Pyongyang, eyeing a possible summit with Kim Jong Un this year, potentially during Trump’s April visit to Beijing.
