South Korea proposed dialogue; North Korea replied with a barrage. Around 12:30 pm on Thursday, Pyongyang launched somewhere between ten and twelve short-range missiles from the Wonsan area on its east coast, according to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. Each travelled about 250 kilometres before falling into the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan.
Japan reported that nothing landed inside the maritime zone it controls. South Korean and American analysts are still working out exactly what was fired, but a military official told the Korea Herald that several kinds of launchers were involved, among them the North’s 600mm multiple rocket system, whose large rockets Seoul and Washington count as ballistic missiles.
It was the seventeenth ballistic launch of 2026 and the first since 12 October. What makes this one stand out is the diplomatic backdrop. Relations have soured further since 21 September, when a landmine blast inside the Demilitarised Zone wounded three South Korean soldiers. A joint inquiry by South Korea and the United Nations Command concluded that the North had planted the mines; Pyongyang denies it and has told the UN Security Council the incident was fabricated.
Last week Seoul invited the North to military talks aimed at reopening communication lines. Yonhap news agency described Thursday’s launches as an apparent cold rebuff. Pyongyang’s tone had been hostile all week: Kim Yo Jong, sister of the country’s leader, called the South’s demand for an apology “despicable” and rejected Seoul’s gift of medical supplies.
Other warning signs are piling up along the frontier. The North appears to have tested propaganda loudspeakers near the border and has threatened to station new weapons there. The salvo also came days after Kim made a surprise weekend trip to China, his country’s key ally and economic lifeline, and one day after eleven countries and the European Union reaffirmed their demand for North Korea’s denuclearisation.
