North Korea launches missiles into the Sea of Japan

North Korea fired a dozen short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, which detected the launches from the Wonsan area around 12:30 local time. The timing of the launches came just days after South Korea proposed military talks with Pyongyang at the border.

South Korea and Japan respond to missile launches

South Korea’s Inter-Services Command stated that its armed forces have "strengthened their surveillance and vigilance against potential additional launches." Japan’s Coast Guard also issued a warning, urging ships to show "vigilance" following the missile launches. South Korea’s Ministry of Defense initially reported an "unidentified projectile" before confirming the launches.

Escalation of tensions with North Korea

This new test occurs amid an increase in incidents involving North Korea. In September, three South Korean soldiers were injured by the explosion of two North Korean mines in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which Seoul claimed were placed on its side of the border. Pyongyang denied this, and a joint investigation by Seoul and the UN, beginning in early October, concluded that North Korea had placed these mines more than a year ago.

South Korea accuses North Korea of violating the armistice

Seoul accused Pyongyang of a "manifest violation of the 1953 armistice agreement" and proposed military talks on the demarcation line between the two countries, located in the center of the DMZ. North Korea had previously announced the deployment of new "firing units" along the border and the resumption of sound propaganda broadcasts from loudspeakers toward the South, which had been interrupted for more than a year.

North Korea tests new military technologies

North Korea also announced having conducted a test of a "new type" of precision torpedo that uses artificial intelligence (AI) in its guidance and target detection systems. A few days earlier, North Korean armed forces tested two types of strategic cruise missiles launched from submarines, according to the official agency KCNA. Beginning in early October, Pyongyang also announced having successfully tested an intermediate-range hypersonic missile using AI to be able to change its trajectory at low altitude.

Possible Trump-Kim talks revive amid uncertainty

Negotiations for a possible meeting between Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are also being revived ahead of the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit in Shenzhen in mid-November, although analysts remain skeptical. The two Koreas remain technically at war, their 1950-1953 conflict having ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty.