North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea on Thursday, complicating efforts to resume stalled nuclear talks with Washington and signalling its anger over planned US-South Korea joint military exercises.
It was Pyongyang’s first missile test since an impromptu meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month that produced an agreement to resume a working-level denuclearisation dialogue.
But those talks have yet to begin, and North Korea warned recently they could be derailed by Washington and Seoul’s refusal to scrap military exercises scheduled for next month.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the two missiles were launched just after dawn from Wonsan on the east coast.
One flew more than 430 kilometres (270 miles), while the other travelled 690 kilometres and appeared to be a “new type of missile”, according to an official in Seoul.
“We urge the North to stop actions that do not help ease military tensions,” said Choi Hyun-soo, a defence ministry spokeswoman for South Korea.
Japan’s defence minister called the launches “extremely regrettable” but stressed that the missiles had fallen short of his country’s exclusive economic zone.
