Overview
- South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff detected multiple short-range ballistic launches around 8:10 a.m. local time from the Jungwha area toward the Sea of Japan, with the projectiles flying roughly 350 kilometers.
- Seoul said it heightened surveillance, shared data with the United States and Japan, and maintains a firm readiness posture for potential additional launches.
- North Korea’s state media claimed the test involved two hypersonic projectiles from a strategic system intended for nuclear warheads, a statement that South Korean and U.S. authorities are analyzing.
- The launches are the first since South Korean President Lee Jae-myung took office in June, as Pyongyang continues to reject Seoul’s outreach and inter-Korean hotlines remain severed since 2022.
- The tests come days before the APEC summit in Gyeongju and President Donald Trump’s planned visit to South Korea, with a Trump–Xi meeting expected during the forum.