North Korea launched ballistic missiles toward waters off its east coast, authorities in South Korea and Japan said.
Multiple unidentified ballistic missiles were fired from the Sinpo area of North Korea at around 6:10 a.m. local time Sunday, according to a statement from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“While strengthening surveillance and maintaining heightened readiness for further launches, South Korea, the US, and Japan are closely sharing information and maintaining full preparedness,” it said.
Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, speaking during a visit to Australia, said the ministry is collecting and analyzing information, while maintaining a high level of vigilance.
The missiles are believed to have fallen near the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, with no impact confirmed within Japan’s territory or exclusive economic zone, its defense ministry said. There were no immediate reports of damage to aircraft or vessels in the area.
Pyongyang last launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward waters off its eastern coast on April 8.
The latest launch comes as the war in Iran drags on, heightening security concerns in east Asia as the US shifts its focus to the Middle East.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been deepening strategic ties with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and continues close coordination with China, underscoring a growing alignment among the three nations against a US-led security order.
In recent months, Kim has unveiled the Hwasong-20, an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to reach the US mainland. He ordered the modernization of his country’s missile and artillery production, signaling a push to expand both nuclear and conventional weapons.
In its latest annual threat-assessment report, the US intelligence authorities said North Korea had “successfully tested” intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the entire US mainland and gained “valuable war-fighting experience and military technology from Russia for participating in combat operations against Ukraine.”
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said this month that the agency has observed a “very serious increase” in North Korea’s nuclear output capability.
While President Lee Jae Myung has sought to ease tensions with Pyongyang, North Korea has largely brushed aside his outreach, maintaining that Seoul remains hostile.
When President Donald Trump visited the region for the EC meetings in late October, he said he was open to meeting Kim if the timing could be arranged.
Sunday’s launches and North Korea’s continued development of new missiles underscore the threat it poses to its neighbors, amid concerns over Pyongyang’s security cooperation with Russia. Kim said days after Trump’s inauguration that confrontation with hostile nations was “inevitable” as he visited a factory and laboratory making weapons-grade nuclear materials.
Many of the projectiles tested in recent years have been of a group known as Hwasong-11, a family of short-range ballistic missiles that can hold hefty payloads including nuclear warheads. The US and South Korea have accused Kim of sending scores of this type of missile to Russia to help Putin in his war efforts.
In return, Russia has sent aid that has propped up North Korea’s economy and helped Kim advance his weapons programs, Seoul and Washington have said.
With assistance from Takashi Hirokawa, Keiko Ujikane and Se Young Lee.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
