Seoul: North Korea fired a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, despite a recent olive branch offered by U.S. President Donald Trump, who signaled a willingness to reengage with the North's leader Kim Jong-un.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) detected roughly a dozen short-range ballistic missiles launched from the Pyongyang area at around 5 p.m. The JCS noted that further analysis is underway in cooperation with the United States. The military has increased surveillance and vigilance for potential additional launches while closely sharing related information with the U.S. and Japan, maintaining a full readiness posture.
"Under a staunch South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture, our military is closely monitoring various North Korean activities as we maintain the capability and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocation," the JCS stated.
The missile launch follows Trump's expression of readiness to resume dialogue with Kim, whom he met three times during his first term in 2018 and 2019 amid active nuclear diplomacy. However, talks have stalled since their 2019 meeting in Hanoi concluded without a deal. Earlier this week, Trump signaled a willingness to reduce military drills with South Korea, perceiving them as potentially provocative to Pyongyang. Consequently, Seoul and Washington announced they would shorten the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise.
Pyongyang has typically denounced these drills as invasion rehearsals and has responded with weapons tests. Despite Trump's overture, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korea's leader, dismissed the reduction of military exercises as "unworthy of comment."
In response to the missile launch, South Korea's presidential national security office convened a meeting with defense ministry and JCS officials to review the response and assess implications for national security. With the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise ongoing, the office stressed the importance of maintaining a thorough readiness posture and urged Pyongyang to cease provocations that violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The latest missile launch comes shortly after North Korea fired another short-range ballistic missile eastward on August 12, following a similar launch on August 6.