North Korea fired more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Thursday, according to South Korea’s military, marking an escalation just one day after Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, dismissed President Trump’s decision to scale back joint US-South Korea military exercises.
The missiles flew around 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the Pyongyang area toward the east, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. South Korean defense officials believe the weapons are 600mm multiple rocket launchers, a system North Korea has described as capable of delivering tactical nuclear warheads.
Trump ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce US participation in the Ulchi Freedom Shield drills on August 16, cutting the exercise short from August 27 to August 21. Trump cited the high cost of the exercises and said they sent a signal that was “totally inappropriate and hostile” toward North Korea, arguing that the reduction would help revive diplomacy with Kim Jong Un.
On Wednesday, August 19, Kim Yo Jong issued a swift response, dismissing Trump’s concession as insufficient. According to Reuters, she stated that the United States’ “hostile policy” toward North Korea had not changed, and she cast doubt on Trump’s claims of recent secret communications with her brother, saying she was unaware of any such contact.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the missile launch appeared designed to underline that Kim Yo Jong’s warning was “not mere rhetoric.” He told Reuters the test likely served multiple purposes: signaling opposition to the ongoing South Korea-US military exercises, expressing displeasure over recent discussion of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, and warning outside powers against speculation about Pyongyang’s security affairs. “It is a message that matters concerning North Korea’s security are for North Korea to decide,” Yang said.
North Korea has a long-standing pattern of conducting missile tests in response to or around major US-South Korea military exercises. The launch on Thursday comes as the joint drills, which began August 17 despite Trump’s order, continue through Friday. South Korea’s presidential office condemned the launch as “a grave act that violates U.N. Security Council resolutions” and called on North Korea to halt such actions immediately.
According to South Korea’s recent statements on the US alliance, Seoul has expressed concern that Trump’s reduction of the drills could undermine decades of military coordination between the two countries. Experts have warned that the scaled-back exercises could weaken combined US-South Korean readiness, even as North Korea continues to advance its weapons capabilities.
Sources
- Reuters — North Korea’s launch of 10+ short-range ballistic missiles on August 20, missile specifications, Kim Yo Jong’s dismissal of Trump’s drill reduction, and Yang Moo-jin’s analysis of the test’s multiple purposes.
- NBC News — Trump’s order to cut back US-South Korea military drills, with exercises now ending August 21 instead of August 27.
- AP News — Trump’s August 16 order to the Pentagon to scale back the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, citing costs and describing them as “inappropriate and hostile.”
- Al Jazeera — North Korea’s historical pattern of conducting missile tests around major US-South Korea military exercises.
- CBS News — Expert warnings that Trump’s move threatens to hurt combined US-South Korean readiness and weaken their alliance.
