North Korea fires ballistic missiles into Sea of Japan amid US-South Korea tensions

Pyongyang tests missiles as regional tensions rise

North Korea launched at least two ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, according to authorities in Japan and South Korea, just a day after a senior US official praised Washington’s “model ally” in Seoul.

Analysts say Pyongyang has sharply stepped up missile tests in recent years, with the launches aimed at improving precision-strike capabilities, challenging both Washington and Seoul, and trialling weapons potentially destined for export to key ally Russia.

Japan’s coast guard, citing the defence ministry, said it detected two ballistic missiles fired towards the Sea of Japan. The Japanese news agency Jiji Press, also citing defence ministry sources, reported that the missiles landed outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff separately said they had detected several ballistic missiles fired by the North towards what Seoul refers to as the East Sea.

The launch marked Pyongyang’s second missile test this month, following a volley fired just hours before South Korea’s president travelled to China for a summit.

The test came a day after a high-level visit to Seoul by Pentagon official Elbridge Colby, the US defence department’s third-ranking official, who described South Korea as a “model ally”.

The United States and South Korea are longstanding treaty allies, with ties forged during the Korean War. Washington continues to station about 28,500 troops in South Korea as a deterrent against the nuclear-armed North.

Pyongyang routinely denounces Washington and Seoul's joint military drills as rehearsals for invasion.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month bashed Seoul's push to develop its own nuclear-powered submarines with the United States, calling it a "threat" that "must be countered".

Trump met North Korea's Kim three times during his first term, in efforts to reach a denuclearisation deal.

But since a summit in Hanoi fell through over differences about what Pyongyang would get in return for giving up its nuclear weapons, no progress has been made between the two countries.

Trump had expressed hopes for a meeting with Kim ahead of a regional summit in South Korea in October, but these went unanswered by the North Korean leader.

Pyongyang meanwhile has dispatched thousands of troops to fight for Russia, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies, as Moscow presses ahead with its nearly four-year invasion of Ukraine.

North Korea is also set to hold a landmark congress of its ruling party in the coming weeks, its first in five years.

Ahead of that conclave, Kim ordered the "expansion" and modernisation of the country's missile production.

Yang Moo-jin, chair professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told AFP that "with the party congress approaching, the latest launch appears intended to heighten tensions to reinforce internal discipline and consolidate regime unity."

He added that the timing of the launch "may also be a response to Colby's visit" to the peninsula.