North Korea fired more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump pledged to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later in 2026. The missiles flew around 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the Pyongyang area toward the east, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The launch came despite Trump’s recent order to substantially reduce joint military exercises with South Korea. On Wednesday, North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong, sister of Kim Jong Un, condemned the U.S.-South Korea drills, saying the United States’ “hostile policy” toward North Korea had not changed, according to Reuters. South Korea’s presidential office condemned the missile launch as “a grave act that violates U.N. Security Council resolutions.”
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he plans to meet with Kim Jong Un later this year and assessed that North Korea possesses “57 very powerful nuclear weapons,” according to the Washington Post. Trump said his relationship with Kim was an asset, stating, “I get along with him well. And you know what? The fact that I get along with him, that’s a very good thing, not a bad thing.”
Trump’s earlier diplomacy with Kim collapsed in 2019 at a summit in Hanoi, Vietnam. The talks failed over disputes regarding how much sanctions relief North Korea should receive in exchange for denuclearization, according to reporting from multiple outlets. Despite that breakdown, Trump has maintained that his personal relationship with Kim remains strong and could be leveraged for renewed negotiations.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told Reuters the missile launch appeared designed to underscore that Kim Yo Jong’s warning was “not mere rhetoric.” He said the launch likely served multiple purposes: signaling opposition to the joint military exercises, expressing displeasure over 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.
The launch occurred as the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, a joint U.S.-South Korea military drill, were underway. Trump had ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce U.S. participation in the exercises on August 16, citing his desire to revive diplomacy with Pyongyang. South Korea’s military said the drills would be cut short to end on Friday, according to Reuters.
Trump scaled back the exercises after South Korea declined his request for assistance in defending the Strait of Hormuz against Iran, according to the Washington Post. Trump told reporters he questioned why the U.S. maintains 39,000 soldiers in South Korea if Seoul will not help with what he characterized as “a very easy military operation in Iran.”
The White House did not immediately confirm plans for a Trump-Kim meeting. Trump is expected to be in Asia in mid-November for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, which could provide a venue for such talks. Craig Singleton, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Washington Post that the strategic landscape has changed substantially since Trump’s first meeting with Kim in Singapore in 2018. “North Korea’s nuclear capabilities have grown substantially, Kim’s relationships with Beijing and Moscow are stronger, and there is little evidence he is interested in trading away his arsenal,” Singleton said.
Sources
- Reuters — details on the missile launch, Kim Yo Jong’s statements, military exercise details, and analyst Yang Moo-jin’s assessment
- The Washington Post — Trump’s statements on meeting Kim, the 57 nuclear weapons claim, Trump’s rationale for cutting exercises, and analyst Craig Singleton’s commentary
