N Korea fires intermediate-range missile under Kim Jong Un — SkimNews
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- North Korea fired an intermediate-range missile on October 3, 2026 from its eastern coast, striking a target 1,000 km away in the sea, in a drill overseen by Kim Jong Un, state media KCNA reported.
- KCNA said the drill was intended to train troops operating a hypersonic strategic weapon system and assess the reliability, efficiency, and mobility of the country's war deterrent.
- Kim Yo Jong, sister of Kim Jong Un and a senior Workers' Party official, claimed South Korea and Japan failed to track the missile's flight, saying a special "wave-like trajectory mode" exposed limitations in their tracking capabilities.
- South Korea's military detected the ballistic missile launch and assessed the missile flew more than 700 km toward the sea off the eastern coast — roughly 300 km short of the 1,000 km range KCNA reported.
- Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang must continue efforts to make enemies recognize the "reliability and fatality" of its strategic offensive weapons, reaffirming that developing its nuclear war deterrent remained essential for national security.
- South Korea had demanded an apology for a landmine blast in the Demilitarized Zone that seriously wounded its soldiers; Kim Yo Jong called the accusation "groundless" and said North Korea had not deliberately laid mines targeting South Korean troops.
- North Korea has now carried out more than 10 missile tests in 2026, the latest coming just one day after Kim Yo Jong's rejection of Seoul's apology demand on October 2.
Why it matters: The October 3 launch is North Korea's 10th-plus missile test this year and lands directly on top of a frozen diplomatic channel with Seoul over the DMZ landmine blast — Kim Yo Jong's claim that allied forces failed to track a "wave-like trajectory mode" puts the credibility of South Korean and Japanese early-warning systems in question if independently verified.
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