North Korea launches another missile towards sea ahead of U.S.-South Korean military drills
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- North Korea fired a ballistic missile from Wonsan around 6 a.m. on August 12 that flew more than 700 km, its second such test in less than a week and a likely protest of upcoming US-South Korea drills.
- South Korea's Joint Chiefs confirmed the launch and said it remains ready to repel provocations in cooperation with the U.S., while its national security council called the test an "act of provocation" defying UN Security Council resolutions.
- The launch came two days after South Korea and the U.S. announced their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield training will begin August 17, drills North Korea has historically answered with weapons tests and harsh rhetoric.
- Japan's Defense Ministry confirmed it detected the launch but said the missile did not reach Japan's exclusive economic zone.
- On August 6, South Korea, the U.S., and Japan detected a short-range ballistic missile from North Korea — its first ballistic weapons test since late June.
- Kim Jong Un has expanded his diplomatic leverage by supplying troops and ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine and hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang in June — Xi's first visit there in seven years.
Why it matters: The launch fits a pattern: Kim Jong Un uses US-South Korea drills to showcase arsenals built since his 2019 diplomacy with Trump collapsed. But the deeper pivot is his deepening cooperation with Russia — supplying arms for the Ukraine war — and hosting Xi Jinping in Pyongyang, building a diplomatic hedge that complicates the deterrence posture the drills are meant to reinforce.
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