Overview
- The launches occurred on Tuesday, May 26, and South Korea’s general staff said multiple projectiles were fired from the Chongju area with at least one short-range ballistic rocket traveling about 80 kilometers into the Yellow Sea.
- Seoul put its military on heightened alert and shared real-time intelligence with the United States and Japan to track the weapons and guard against additional tests.
- North Korean state media later said leader Kim Jong-un oversaw tests of new rocket-launch and cruise-missile systems, with officials claiming advances such as an autonomous navigation capability.
- The Defense Ministry and analysts view the launches as demonstrations of modern combat and deterrent capability, and this was the eighth known North Korean launch recorded so far this year.
- The tests come against a backdrop of existing UN sanctions, prior April launches that North Korea said used cluster munitions, and unconfirmed reporting of a possible Xi Jinping visit to Pyongyang that neither Beijing nor Pyongyang has verified.