North Korea Launches Short-Range Missiles Into Sea

North Korea fired eight short-range ballistic missiles on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, a day after a special U.S. envoy departed from Seoul.

The missiles were fired between 9:08 a.m. and 9:43 a.m. from four different regions and landed in the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, Seoul’s military said. The missiles reached altitudes of roughly 15 to 56 miles and traveled a range of 68 to 416 miles.

Japanese defense minister Nobuo Kishi said North Korea may have launched multiple missiles at once to improve its capability to launch missiles continuously, which would be necessary for a saturation attack. The missiles fell outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff called North Korea’s launches serious provocations that undermine peace on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said that the multiple ballistic missile launches highlight the destabilizing impact of North Korea’s illicit weapons program, but that the event didn’t pose an immediate threat.

In recent weeks, North Korea has fired a range of missiles, including an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. U.S. Special Representative Sung Kim said North Korea was continuing preparations for its seventh nuclear test when he met his counterparts from South Korea and Japan in Seoul this past week.

While in Seoul, the nuclear envoys of the three countries condemned North Korea’s recent launches as destabilizing to the region and violating United Nations Security Council resolutions. They called on Pyongyang to cease its “unlawful and dangerous behavior” and to return to dialogue.

The missiles were launched a day after South Korea and the U.S. ended joint military drills, which involved an American aircraft carrier for the first time in more than four years. South Korean and American ships concluded three days of drills in international waters off the Japanese island of Okinawa, which involved air defense, antiship, anti-submarine and maritime interdiction operations, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

President Biden recently agreed with new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to begin planning the resumption of joint military field exercises with South Korea and pledged that the U.S. would be prepared to send nuclear-capable military assets such as bombers to Seoul. North Korea has criticized previous joint drills as “hostile policies” toward Pyongyang.

North Korea has conducted more than a dozen missile tests this year despite reporting a nationwide outbreak of Covid-19 that leader Kim Jong Un has called the nation’s worst-ever crisis.

Last month, the U.S. proposed more U.N. sanctions on North Korea over its recent provocations but China and Russia vetoed the resolution.

The U.S. and South Korea have offered aid to North Korea to help with the Covid outbreak but Pyongyang hasn’t responded to the outreach. North Korea has gradually expanded its military arsenal since denuclearization talks broke down in 2019.