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Agence France-Presse

North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile over the Sea of Japan on Thursday, Seoul’s military said, with the launch coming after Pyongyang lambasted Japan’s military build-up in the Pacific.
North Korea, which since 2019 has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state, featured among growing regional threats in a recent Japanese government assessment.
Tokyo’s Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said this week that Japan’s military needs to be boosted with a “sense of urgency and crisis”.
In a statement carried by North Korean state media on Wednesday, Kim Yo-jong – the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un – said Pyongyang’s “leadership will set up additional military options which are obviously due to Japan’s transformation”.


On Thursday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that “our military detected one short-range ballistic missile launched from the Wonsan area of North Korea at around 5pm”.
Authorities in Seoul and Washington were analysing the missile’s exact specifications, it added in a message to news organisations.
The JCS said earlier the missile was launched towards the East Sea, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
Tokyo’s defence ministry posted on social media that “something that may be a ballistic missile has been launched from North Korea”, later saying there was no impact “on the areas around Japan”.
Seoul has strengthened surveillance and maintained readiness for possible additional launches while sharing information with its security allies the United States and Japan, the JCS said.
South Korea and the United States are expected to carry out their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, aimed at containing the nuclear-armed North, later this month.
North Korea has always been infuriated by such joint drills, decrying them as rehearsals for invasion.

Under the South Korea-US combined defence posture “our military is maintaining the capability and readiness to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation”, Seoul’s JCS said on Thursday.
North Korea has deepened economic and military ties with Russia, supplying troops and munitions for Moscow’s war in Ukraine in exchange for financial support, food, energy and military technology, analysts say.
Some experts said Thursday’s launch could have been intended to test weapons before Kim Jong-un’s expected visit to Russia this year.
“Before heading to Russia, Kim may have wanted to demonstrate that Pyongyang had already tested these missile systems and achieved satisfactory results,” Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean-born researcher, said.
“If the trip materialises, Kim is very likely to showcase them to Russia or seek to export them.”
Japan’s defence ministry declined to comment directly on Kim Yo-jong’s Wednesday diatribe but said the country’s defence capabilities “remain bare minimum” and “are not meant to threaten other countries”.
Tokyo raised its military expenditure by 9.7 per cent to $62.2 billion in 2025 – equivalent to 1.4 per cent of GDP, its highest share since 1958.
China, a key ally of North Korea, has also recently expressed alarm at what it sees as “new militarism” by Japan.
South Korea’s dovish President Lee Jae Myung has reversed the stance of his hawkish predecessor since taking power in Seoul in June 2025, offering nuclear-armed Pyongyang talks without preconditions.
The hermetic leadership of North Korea has yet to respond to his repeated offers.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because their 1950-53 war, triggered by a North Korean attack, ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.


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People watch the news at a station in Seoul, South Korea on Thursday. According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Thursday. Photo: EPA

A US Stryker infantry carrier vehicle crosses a river over a floating bridge during the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise in Yeoju in 2025. Photo: AFP

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Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (left) and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung shake hands before their meeting at presidential office in Seoul on April 1. Photo: Yonhap/AP

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un greets war veterans at an event marking the 73rd anniversary of the Korean War armistice in Pyongyang on July 28. Photo: KCNA/Reuters

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A waitress shows dishes made of dog meat at a restaurant in North Korea in 2018. Euphemistically known as “dangogi”, or sweet meat, dog has long been believed to be a stamina food in North and South Korea and is traditionally eaten during the hottest time of the year. Photo: AP

Pyongyang organised a dog-meat cooking contest in 2020. Photo: Kyodo

South Korean animal rights activists holding dog-urn boxes pay a silent tribute during a press conference against eating dog meat in Seoul last month. Photo: AP

Pedestrians walk along a mist-spraying zone to cool off on a street in Seoul on Monday. Photo: AFP

Is Kim Yo-jong’s rebuke a sign North Korea is ditching Asean diplomacy?

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, attends a reception in the Great Hall of People in Beijing, China, on September 3, 2025. Photo: AFP

Foreign ministers attend the Asean Regional Forum in Pasay, Metro Manila, the Philippines, on Thursday. Photo: EPA

Pentagon signs US$3 billion deal to ramp up Patriot, THAAD missile parts production

A Patriot missile battery at the Prince Sultan air base in al-Kharj, central Saudi Arabia in 2020. Photo: AP

News

Asia

East Asia

The launch came a day after Pyongyang accused Japan of turning ‘into a war state’ as Tokyo beefs up its military stance in the Pacific


The launch came a day after Pyongyang accused Japan of turning ‘into a war state’ as Tokyo beefs up its military stance in the Pacific.


North Korea fires ‘unidentified projectile’: South Korea

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The launch came a day after Pyongyang accused Japan of turning ‘into a war state’ as Tokyo beefs up its military stance in the Pacific

The launch came a day after Pyongyang accused Japan of turning ‘into a war state’ as Tokyo beefs up its military stance in the Pacific