SEOUL: North Korea launched several projectiles, including a ballistic missile, into the Yellow Sea on Tuesday, South Korea&#39;s military said. Pyongyang has conducted a flurry of missile tests in recent weeks, and analysts have said the diplomatically isolated state may be trying to take advantage of eroding international norms to cement its nuclear status. The North has also repeatedly shunned efforts by the South Korean government to improve relations, repeatedly calling Seoul its most &quot;hostile&quot; adversary. South Korea&#39;s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Tuesday they had detected the launches of &quot;several projectiles&quot;, including a short-range ballistic missile, into the Yellow Sea from the North Korean city of Chongju at around 1:00 pm (0400 GMT). The Yellow Sea is the body of water separating the Korean peninsula from China. The missiles flew about 80 kilometres (50 miles), Seoul&#39;s military said, adding that it was analysing their specifications and flight range, and had &quot;strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for possible additional launches&quot;. South Korea, its main security partner the United States, and Japan were &quot;maintaining a state of full readiness&quot; and closely sharing intelligence, Seoul&#39;s military said. The launch was North Korea&#39;s first for 37 days and its eighth this year. In April, Pyongyang conducted another such test to &quot;verify the characteristics and power of a cluster bomb warhead&quot;, its state media said at the time. South Korea&#39;s Yonhap news agency reported last week, citing unnamed government sources, that Chinese President Xi Jinping would likely visit North Korea sometime this week. China is North Korea&#39;s main economic and political backer, though Pyongyang has drawn closer to Russia in recent years. Neither Beijing nor Pyongyang have yet confirmed Xi&#39;s visit.

A woman watches a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul on May 26, 2026. North Korea launched an "unidentified projectile" into the Yellow Sea off its west coast on May 26,

Asia

North Korea fired several projectiles, including a short-range ballistic missile, into the Yellow Sea as tensions rise amid its continued weapons tests and reported regional diplomatic activity.

North Korea fires ballistic missile into Yellow Sea: Seoul

SEOUL: North Korea fired about 10 unidentified ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan Saturday, Seoul&#39;s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, days after Pyongyang warned of &quot;terrible consequences&quot; over South Korea-US military drills. Pyongyang recently dashed hopes of a diplomatic thaw with South Korea, Washington&#39;s security ally, describing its latest peace efforts as a &quot;clumsy, deceptive farce&quot;. Seoul&#39;s military detected &quot;around ten unidentified ballistic missiles launched from the Sunan area in North Korea toward the East Sea at around 1:20 pm (0420 GMT),&quot; the JCS said in a statement. Japan&#39;s defense ministry also confirmed the launch, saying on its official X account that &quot;what is possibly a ballistic missile was launched from North Korea&quot;. The announcement came hours after South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said that US President Donald Trump thinks a meeting with Pyongyang&#39;s leader Kim Jong Un would be &quot;good&quot;. Washington has for decades led efforts to dismantle North Korea&#39;s nuclear program, but summits, sanctions and diplomatic pressure have had little impact. The Trump administration has pushed in recent months to revive high-level talks with Pyongyang, eyeing a possible summit with Kim Jong Un this year, potentially during Trump&#39;s April visit to Beijing. Seoul&#39;s Kim, who met Trump in Washington, said the US president told him that meeting Kim Jong Un would be &quot;good&quot; and the meeting could potentially happen during Trump&#39;s visit to Beijing that begins later in March. Trump said during a trip to Asia in October that he was &quot;100 percent&quot; open to meeting with Kim Jong Un, a remark that went unanswered by the North. After largely ignoring those overtures for months, Kim Jong Un recently said that the two nations could &quot;get along&quot; if Washington accepted Pyongyang&#39;s nuclear status. &#39;Terrible consequences&#39; Last month, Pyongyang&#39;s leader Kim said North Korea had &quot;absolutely no business dealing with South Korea, its most hostile entity, and will permanently exclude South Korea from the category of compatriots&quot;. Seoul and Washington kicked off their springtime military drills &quot;Freedom Shield&quot; on Monday, which will involve about 18,000 Korean troops and run until March 19. The nuclear-armed North, which attacked its neighbour in 1950 triggering the Korean War, has long described such exercises as rehearsals for invasion. Earlier this week, Kim Yo Jong, a powerful confidante of her brother Kim Jong Un, said the joint drills &quot;may cause unimaginably terrible consequences&quot;. She went on to say the drills were taking place at &quot;a critical time when global security structure is collapsing rapidly and wars break out in different parts of the world&quot;. She said the situation is caused by &quot;the reckless acts of the outrageous international rogues&quot;. Pyongyang has condemned the US-Israeli attack on Iran as an &quot;illegal act of aggression&quot;, claiming it shows the &quot;rogue&quot; nature of the United States.

North Korea fired about 10 ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, amid rising tensions over joint military drills by South Korea and the United States.

Articles tagged with "ballistic missiles"

North Korea fires ballistic missile into Yellow Sea: Seoul

South Korea says North fires around 10 ballistic missiles

North Korea fires ballistic missile into Yellow Sea: Seoul