North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles off its east coast on Monday, South Korea’s military said, adding to tensions between the two countries following a series of military tests and a dispute over landmine explosions in the demilitarised zone.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had detected several ballistic missiles launched from the Pyongyang area and had strengthened surveillance to monitor the possibility of further launches. Japan’s Defence Ministry separately confirmed that it had detected at least two suspected ballistic missile launches, assessing that the weapons had landed in waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
The launches followed North Korea’s test-firing of a ballistic missile on 3 October, which Pyongyang said incorporated artificial intelligence technology. Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said the missile could alter its flight trajectory at low altitude and that artificial intelligence had been introduced into the system.
South Korea subsequently announced the successful test of its first domestically developed hypersonic glide vehicle, a weapon carried into the upper atmosphere by rocket boosters or ballistic missiles before gliding towards its target. Seoul’s presidential office said the weapon would provide “a new deterrence capability capable of striking key targets within the Korean peninsula’s operational environment”.
The latest developments come amid heightened tensions over landmine explosions in the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas. Three South Korean soldiers were injured when two mines detonated in an area controlled by Seoul, with two of the soldiers reported to have been seriously wounded.
A joint investigation conducted by South Korea and the United Nations alleged that North Korea had planted the mines more than a year earlier. Pyongyang has angrily denied the allegation.
The dispute has complicated efforts by South Korean President Lee Jae-myung to pursue engagement with the North. Lee has moderated his rhetoric towards Pyongyang and favoured dialogue, even as public anger has grown over the mine explosions. He has also called for strengthening South Korea’s conventional military capabilities while reducing the country’s reliance on the United States.
North Korea, meanwhile, has abandoned diplomatic engagement and cooperation with the South in recent years, with Kim Jong-un describing the neighbouring country as a permanent enemy. Relations have remained strained alongside a prolonged deadlock in broader nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington.
US President Donald Trump has called for the resumption of diplomacy with North Korea, but Kim has so far rejected those overtures. Negotiations between the two countries broke down in 2019, and Pyongyang has demanded that Washington abandon what it describes as a hostile policy and drop denuclearisation as a precondition for talks.
Military cooperation between Washington and Seoul has also faced uncertainty. In August, the Trump administration unilaterally decided to scale back a major joint military exercise with South Korea, with Trump citing his “very good relationship” with Kim.
The successive missile tests by North and South Korea have taken place as diplomatic efforts remain stalled and the dispute over the landmine explosions continues to strain relations on the peninsula.
