North Korea fired suspected short-range missiles days before President Donald Trump and other world leaders are set to gather in South Korea for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit starting next week.
The projectiles were launched northeastward Wednesday morning, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a text message. The missiles flew about 350 kilometers (217 miles), Yonhap News said.
Japanese media outlet NTV earlier reported that the missiles appeared to have fallen into waters east of the Korean Peninsula, citing an unidentified government official. But a South Korean government official said the missiles didn’t splash down in waters off east coast. The projectiles are believed to have struck North Korea’s inland, Yonhap News said, without citing sources.
The missile launches underscore the persistent threat North Korea poses to regional security and appear aimed at seizing the attention of world leaders-particularly Trump, who is expected to visit South Korea next week for trade talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The US president has floated the idea of meeting Kim Jong Un this year, touting their ‘very good relationship.’ Kim said in September he’s open to meeting with Trump again if the US drops its denuclearization demands.
South Korea’s Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said last week he believes there is a possibility of a Trump-Kim meeting on the sidelines of the APEC gathering. There has been no indication that the two sides are arranging a summit.
Trump and Kim met three times during the US leader’s first presidency, but those encounters failed to curb the development of Kim’s nuclear weapons program.
Kim has since aligned more closely with President Vladimir Putin, supporting his war against Ukraine, even standing shoulder to shoulder with the Russian leader and China’s Xi at a major military parade in Beijing last month.
Wednesday’s launch-the first in more than five months-comes less than two weeks after Kim staged his own military parade in Pyongyang that showcased the latest Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile and a day after Sanae Takaichi made history by becoming Japan’s first female prime minister.
It’s also the North’s first missile launch after the inauguration of South Korea’s liberal President Lee Jae Myung in June. While Lee has taken steps to ease tensions with Pyongyang, North Korea has largely rebuffed his efforts and stuck to its stance that the South remains a hostile neighbor.
‘Our military is maintaining a full readiness posture while closely sharing information related to North Korean ballistic missiles with the US and Japan,’ the South Korean military said.
In September, Kim oversaw a ground test of a high-thrust solid-fuel engine designed for long-range missiles, underscoring Pyongyang’s efforts to expand its arsenal of solid-fuel missiles which can be deployed more quickly and are harder to detect than liquid-fuel systems.