North Korea Fires Several Ballistic Missiles Toward Sea — SkimNews
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- North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles from Wonsan toward the sea off its east coast on Saturday (Sep 12), with projectiles launched around 5:20am and flying approximately 250km, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
- South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff is tracking the launches with US intelligence and sharing data with Japan, while the presidential National Security Office convened an emergency meeting and called the launches a "serious violation" of UN Security Council resolutions.
- The US Pacific Command assessed the launches did not pose an immediate threat to US personnel, territory, or allies, reaffirming Washington's commitment to regional defense.
- Donald Trump told reporters on August 19 he plans to meet Kim Jong Un this year and stated Pyongyang had 57 nuclear weapons — a specific figure Seoul's assessments put between 80-120.
- Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, labeled Trump's decision to scale back the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises "Seoul's punishment" and described the South's relationship with Washington as "master-and-servant."
Why it matters: With Trump publicly pursuing a year-end Kim Jong Un meeting while simultaneously scaling back the joint drills Pyongyang calls invasion rehearsals, each new missile test forces Seoul into emergency coordination even as Washington publicly downplays the threat. The gap between Trump's stated 57-warhead count and Seoul's 80-120 estimate also exposes how sharply US and South Korean intelligence reads on Pyongyang's arsenal diverge.
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