North Korea Launches Second Suspected Ballistic Missile
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile toward the sea on Wednesday, according to Japan's Defence Ministry, which said the weapon landed in the waters.
- Yonhap news agency, citing South Korea's military, reported the projectile was fired off North Korea's east coast and remained unidentified.
- The launch came two days after South Korea and the United States announced their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military drills will begin next week.
- North Korea views the South Korea-U.S. drills as a rehearsal to invade it and has historically responded to such exercises with provocative weapons tests and harsh rhetoric.
- Last week, South Korea, the U.S., and Japan detected a short-range ballistic missile from North Korea — its first ballistic testing since late June — though Pyongyang did not confirm that launch, breaking its usual pattern of releasing details a day after.
Why it matters: North Korea's second launch in under a week, timed just two days before the Ulchi Freedom Shield drills begin, fits the established tit-for-tat pattern in which Pyongyang answers allied exercises with weapons tests. North Korea also declined to confirm last week's short-range ballistic missile launch — breaking its typical one-day reveal cadence — a deviation the source flags but does not explain.
Ask SkimNews
