On Saturday, North Korea launched an unidentified projectile into the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea’s defense ministry. This event marks a continuation of North Korea’s recent pattern of missile tests, raising concerns in the region.
The North fired a barrage of missiles into the sea on August 20 even after an overture from US President Donald Trump, who said he planned to meet this year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Hours after Trump’s remarks, North Korea fired more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area towards the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s military said.
The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launch toward the body of water that Koreans call the East Sea but it gave no details. The US president also said it was important to “get along” with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 “very powerful” nuclear weapons. Hours after the launches, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, said Trump’s decision to scale back the drills with South Korea was Seoul’s punishment. She called it in a statement “an evident disaster brought by the unrealistic and anachronistic security outlook” pursued by Seoul, arguing the South had a “master-and-servant” relationship with the United States.
