North Korea fires 10 suspected ballistic missile towards Sea of Japan, Seoul says

Japan’s Defence Ministry has said that North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile towards it on Saturday.

“What is possibly a ballistic missile was launched from North Korea,” the ministry said on its official X account.

The projectile “is believed to have already fallen,” it added in a separate post a few minutes later.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s office has asked authorities to ensure the safety of aircraft, vessels and other military assets. It has also called for deploying all measures for precaution, including readying contingencies.

North Korea fired about 10 unidentified ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

Seoul’s military detected “around ten unidentified ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea at around 1:20 pm (0420 GMT),” the JCS said in a statement.

South Korea confirms missile launch

Earlier today, South Korea’s defence ministry said that North Korea fired at least one “unidentified projectile” eastward, weeks after Pyongyang dismissed Seoul’s latest peace overtures as a “deceptive farce”.

North Korea fired at least one “unidentified projectile eastward”, Seoul’s defence ministry said in a statement, without providing details.

The projectiles were fired as the US and South Korea conducted military drills. It was fired toward the sea off ⁠North Korea’s east coast, the South Korean ​military said.

It appeared ​to have fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic ​zone, NHK reported, citing defence ministry sources.

Seoul ‌and ⁠Washington, five days earlier, launched the major drills, which they say are purely defensive, aimed at testing readiness against military threats from North Korea.

Nuclear-armed ​North Korea ​frequently displays ⁠its anger and objections to such exercises, saying they are “dress rehearsals” for ​armed aggression against it by the ​allies.

With inputs from agencies