SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea launched an unidentified projectile toward the sea on Sunday, according to South Korea's military, the latest in a recent series of weapons displays by the North.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff the launch happened on North Korea's east coast but gave no further details.
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The launch comes as North Korea is engaging in a run of weapons tests even after U.S. President Donald Trump recently scaled back a military exercise with South Korea in an apparent effort to revive diplomacy with leader Kim Jong Un.
Earlier this month, North Korea said it had conducted a joint live-fire drill involving missiles, artillery and drones that it claimed demonstrated “huge destructive power.” The test included firing different types of weapons simultaneously, likely aiming at developing the ability to overwhelm South Korean and U.S. air defenses.
The Sept. 12 weapons tests came a day a after the U.S., South Korea and Japan wrapped their five-day trilateral military drill that North Korea views as a provocation.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been focusing on expanding his nuclear arsenal after his earlier high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019. Trump last month ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise with South Korea. He cited what he called a good relationship with Kim, who has called such drills invasion rehearsals.
But Kim’s sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, shrugged off Trump’s overture, saying that shortening the drill wouldn't change its “provocative, aggressive nature.”
North Korea’s military later launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea, apparently following through with a previous threat to respond to the U.S.-South Korean drill.
