North Korea launched at least one ballistic missile toward the sea on Saturday, South Korea’s military said, continuing a recent series of weapons tests as tensions between the rivals rise following land mine explosions near the border that injured three South Korean soldiers.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was fired from the North’s eastern coastal area near Wonsan. Officials did not immediately disclose how far it traveled.
Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that the missile appeared to have fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
South Korea’s military said it had increased surveillance and readiness for additional launches while maintaining close coordination and sharing information with the United States and Japan.
The launch followed a day after Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister mocked South Korean calls for an apology over the land mine explosions. South Korea and the U.S.-led United Nations Command have said the blasts were caused by North Korean mines placed south of the military demarcation line.
Seoul has also urged Pyongyang to stop strengthening its border defenses, including laying mines and building anti-tank barriers. Those efforts have accelerated since Kim abandoned North Korea’s long-standing policy of seeking reconciliation with the South in 2024 and declared Seoul a permanent adversary.
Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s sister and possibly Pyongyang’s second-most powerful official, dismissed Seoul’s demands over the explosions as “utterly pathetic” on Friday. She said North Korea intended to sever ties with the South permanently.
In an earlier statement, Kim Yo Jong denied that North Korea was responsible for the blasts and warned that Pyongyang would retaliate if South Korea opened fire on North Korean troops working to fortify the border.
Saturday’s missile launch added to a series of North Korean military demonstrations in recent weeks, including missile tests, live-fire drills and the commissioning of a new warship. Kim has continued to showcase the country’s expanding nuclear capabilities despite U.S. efforts to bring Pyongyang back to diplomatic negotiations.
Wonsan was also the location of a Sept. 20 test of what North Korean state media called a hypersonic missile system. The test was part of a broader weapons buildup designed to challenge missile defenses in South Korea. Kim has largely turned away from talks with Washington and Seoul since his nuclear negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019, instead making Moscow the focus of his foreign policy by sending thousands of troops and large quantities of weapons to support President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
After years of stepped-up testing, Kim has built an extensive arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles. It includes long-range weapons that could potentially reach the U.S. mainland, as well as shorter-range systems capable of threatening South Korea and Japan.
In August, Trump reduced the scale of a major military exercise with South Korea, apparently seeking to reopen diplomacy with Kim. North Korea has long condemned such drills as invasion rehearsals.
Pyongyang has so far rejected Trump’s outreach, insisting that Washington first abandon its “hostile policy.” North Korea traditionally uses that phrase to refer to U.S.-led sanctions and joint military exercises with South Korea, and it also wants the United States to drop denuclearization as a condition for talks.
