Overview
- South Korea reported that North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area on Sunday, with the first travelling about 450 kilometres and the second more than 600 kilometres.
- Seoul's Office of National Security convened an emergency meeting to assess the launches and publicly demanded that Pyongyang stop testing ballistic missiles.
- Japan's Defense Ministry said the objects could be ballistic weapons and that they had apparently fallen into the Sea of Japan, and Tokyo lodged a protest over the flights.
- The launches came a day after Kim Yo-jong rejected an IAEA resolution urging North Korea to abandon its nuclear and related programs and follow a week of short-range tests that followed trilateral 'Freedom Edge' drills.
- There were no reports of casualties or long-range strategic tests in these accounts, but analysts say the pattern of short-range launches is being used by Pyongyang for political signaling and will keep regional militaries on heightened alert.