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North Korea launched a second unidentified projectile toward the East Sea on Sunday, coming just hours after firing a short-range ballistic missile, South Korea's military reported.
According to details shared by South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) and reported by Yonhap News Agency, specific parameters regarding the second missile launch were not immediately available as intelligence authorities continued their analysis. The initial provocation occurred around 3:00 p.m. when the JCS detected a short-range ballistic missile fired from the Wonsan area. The missile travelled approximately 450 kilometres before falling into the sea. "We are closely monitoring North Korea's various activities and maintain the capability and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocations, under the staunch South Korea-US combined defence posture," the JCS said in a statement carried by Yonhap News Agency. South Korean and U.S. intelligence tracked the launch from its earliest stages and shared real-time tracking data with Japanese authorities. Following the back-to-back launches, South Korea's National Security Office (NSO) convened an emergency meeting alongside the Ministry of National Defence and the JCS to assess the security situation and evaluate appropriate countermeasures. The NSO condemned the launches as clear violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions and urged Pyongyang to cease military provocations immediately. Sunday's firing comes nine days after Pyongyang launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles from the same region on Sept. 12. State media later confirmed those tests involved tactical cruise missiles, attack drones, and 600-millimetre super-large multiple rocket launchers. The fresh missile tests follow sharp warnings from senior North Korean leadership against U.S.-led joint military manoeuvres in the region. Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, recently issued a scathing rebuke of the multinational Pacific Vanguard maritime exercise, vowing that Pyongyang would respond in a "more offensive manner." North Korean state organs have similarly condemned the bilateral South Korea-US Ulchi Freedom Shield and the trilateral Freedom Edge exercises involving Japan, routinely characterising them as rehearsals for an invasion. As reported by Yonhap News Agency, military analysts suspect the first projectile fired on Sunday was a Hwasong-11 series short-range ballistic missile, with detailed evaluations ongoing to determine the specific class of the second projectile. (ANI)
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