North Korea tests missile ahead of US-South Korea drills — SkimNews
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- North Korea fired a ballistic missile from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea at approximately 6:00 am Wednesday, according to Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff, marking its second such launch in under a week.
- Japan's Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi called the launch a "threat to peace and security in our region" and said Tokyo lodged a strong protest with North Korea through diplomatic channels in Beijing.
- The missile was estimated to have fallen outside Japan's exclusive economic zone in the Sea of Japan, with no reports of damage confirmed and Japan's prime minister ordering complete readiness.
- South Korea and the US announced two days earlier that their annual joint military drills would kick off August 17; Pyongyang views the exercises as invasion rehearsals.
- Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at Kyungnam University, said "Pyongyang is closely watching the upcoming drills and could stage a provocation if it deems one necessary."
- After last year's drills, Kim Jong Un claimed the exercises showed Seoul and Washington's "will to ignite a war" and prompted "proactive and overwhelming" countermeasures from the North.
- Pyongyang did not initially confirm the August 12 launch, unusual since it typically releases details of tests a day later; an August 6 short-range ballistic missile was its first test since late June.
Why it matters: North Korea has fired two missiles in a week and explicitly timed them ahead of August 17 US-South Korea drills, with Kim Jong Un's prior rhetoric framing the exercises as a trigger for "overwhelming" countermeasures. Japan's government has already activated diplomatic protests and full readiness protocols, signaling that the 11-day drill window could bring further tests and heightened regional tension.
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