North Korea fired more than ten ballistic missiles into the sea on Saturday, South Korea’s military said, as the United States and South Korean forces conducted joint military exercises and Donald Trump renewed overtures for dialogue with Pyongyang.
The missiles were launched from an area near the capital Pyongyang at about 1.20pm towards the sea off the country’s east coast, according to South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff. Japan’s coast guard detected what could have been a ballistic missile that fell outside its exclusive economic zone, public broadcaster NHK reported.
North Korea has test-launched a wide range of ballistic and cruise missiles for more than two decades in a bid to develop the means to deliver nuclear weapons, which it is believed to have successfully built. Pyongyang has been under multiple UN Security Council sanctions since 2006 but remains defiant despite severe obstacles to its trade, economy and defence.
Seoul and Washington launched major military drills this week, which they describe as purely defensive and aimed at testing readiness against threats from the North. Pyongyang, a nuclear-armed state, frequently objects to such exercises, calling them ‘dress rehearsals’ for armed aggression.
On Thursday, South Korea’s Prime Minister Kim Min-seok met President Trump in Washington to discuss reopening dialogue with the North, suspended since 2019. Mr Kim said Mr Trump thought a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would be ‘good’. The Trump administration has pushed to revive high-level talks, considering a possible summit during Mr Trump’s April visit to Beijing.
Mr Trump said during a trip to Asia in October that he was ‘100%’ open to meeting Mr Kim, a remark that went unanswered. After ignoring such overtures for months, Mr Kim recently said the two nations could ‘get along’ if Washington accepted Pyongyang’s nuclear status. North Korea also described South Korea’s latest peace efforts as a ‘clumsy, deceptive farce’.
