North Korea fired at least two unidentified projectiles off its eastern coast, South Korea’s military said, reminding world leaders of its stalled nuclear talks with the U.S. ahead of a regional summit in Bangkok.
The projectiles were fired from North Korea’s western province of South Pyongan on Thursday and landed in the sea separating the peninsula from Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the test was likely of a short-range ballistic missile that fell outside its exclusive waters.
There was no immediate information about the flight of the projectiles, which would give some indication of the type of weapon fired. The country has fired off at least 20 missiles in a dozen different military tests since breaking a testing-freeze in May.
North Korea’s last launch of a ballistic missile came Oct. 2, when it fired from an underwater platform a new type of weapon designed to be deployed on a submarine, which had an estimated range of about 1,180 miles. Most of the tests since May have been of its KN-23 ballistic missile, which weapons experts said can deliver a nuclear warhead to all of South Korea and is designed to evade U.S. interceptors.
The latest launch Thursday came about a day after leader Kim Jong Un sent a condolence message to South Korean President Moon Jae-in over the death of his mother. North Korea has in recent days reiterated its calls on U.S. President Donald Trump to ease sanctions on the state or risk Pyongyang taking a “new path” that could escalate security tensions.
The Association of Southeast Nations’ annual meetings open this week in Bangkok and the North Korean regime has sometimes timed weapons tests to coincide with such high-profile summits. The meeting draws leaders from across the region, although Trump isn’t attending this year.
On Sunday, the North Korean spy chief who delivered a personal message from Kim to Trump at the White House at the start of the year, issued a fresh warning to Washington, saying “there is a limit to everything.”
“The U.S. is now more desperately resorting to the hostile policy towards the DPRK, misjudging the patience and tolerance of the DPRK,” Kim Yong Chol was quoted as saying by the state’s KCNA official news agency, referring to North Korea by its official name.
After about an eight-month lull in direct nuclear dealings, the U.S. and North Korea held their first direct nuclear negotiations in Stockholm in early October, with the two sides disagreeing about what was on the table and showing how far apart they are.
Trump and Kim Jong Un have little to show for their diplomacy that started with their first summit in Singapore in 2018 and included two other direct meetings. Trump has shrugged off the recent North Korean weapons tests, saying Kim has lived up to his pledge to halt tests of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.