North Korea Fires 10 Missiles After Trump Curtails Joint Drills

North Korea launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Thursday afternoon, just a day after Pyongyang dismissed a U.S. decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea.

Ten Short-Range Missiles Fired Toward Eastern Waters

North Korea launched a barrage of approximately 10 short-range ballistic missiles from its capital region on Thursday, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The missiles were fired at around 5 p.m. local time and flew about 300 kilometers, or roughly 185 miles, toward the country’s eastern waters.

South Korea’s presidential national security council immediately convened an emergency security meeting following the launches. Officials from the defense ministry and military authorities attended the session, after which the presidential office issued a formal condemnation. The presidential office stated that the ballistic missile launch is a grave act that violates U.N.

Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back told lawmakers that the short-range projectiles are believed to be 600 mm multiple rocket launchers, designated externally as the KN-25 system. Seoul has been closely tracking these weapons systems because North Korea could potentially deploy them near its border with the South. Pyongyang has previously asserted that the 600 mm system is capable of delivering tactical nuclear warheads. Ahn also noted that North Korea possesses an estimated arsenal of between 80 and 120 nuclear warheads.

In response to the barrage, South Korea bolstered its surveillance posture and coordinated information closely with the United States and Japan. The Japanese prime minister’s office reported earlier that it had also detected a suspected missile launch.

The Collapse of Overtures and Military Drills

The missile launches occurred just one day after North Korea shrugged off a U.S. decision to curtail ongoing military exercises. U.S. President Donald Trump had ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises just before they began on Monday, citing his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and expressing frustration over South Korea’s refusal to support him regarding the war in Iran.

North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Ahead of US-South Korea Drills

In response to Trump’s directive, the South Korean and U.S. militaries shortened the 11-day exercises by cutting their duration in half and canceling several field training exercises. While the maneuver aimed to revive stalled diplomacy, it immediately generated anxiety among allies regarding their joint defense posture.

Photo: USA Today

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of the North Korean leader, swiftly rejected the U.S. overture. She argued that reducing the duration and size of the exercises did nothing to alter their fundamental nature. The provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won’t change even though their duration and size were reduced, Kim Yo Jong said in a statement, adding that if the U.S. calculates that it can propagate its recent measure as the one of so-called good faith, they will not get the desired answer.

“The provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won’t change even though their duration and size were reduced.”

Trump says talking to North Korea makes region safer

Kim Yo Jong, influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, via AP News

Kim Yo Jong also contradicted claims made by Trump on August 17 that he had received a response from Kim Jong Un following the reduction of the drills. She stated that she was unaware of any recent communications between the two leaders and insisted that Washington’s hostile policy toward North Korea remained unchanged. However, she refrained from deploying typical fiery rhetoric, noting that personal relations between her brother and Trump were still excellent—a signal that Pyongyang may be waiting for larger concessions before returning to formal negotiations.

Strategic Signals and Regional Diplomacy

Experts suggest the timing and scale of Thursday’s missile barrage carry a deliberate message. Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, observed that the launch demonstrated that Kim Yo Jong’s sharp warnings a day earlier were far from empty rhetoric.

Photo: AP News

“He said the launch likely served multiple purposes, including signalling opposition to the South Korea-U.S. military exercises, expressing displeasure over recent discussion of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, and warning outside powers against speculation about Pyongyang’s security affairs.”

Yang Moo-jin, professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, via The Guardian

Yang noted that the launch also likely served to test improved missile systems. The demonstration follows a pattern where Pyongyang labels routine defensive drills as invasion rehearsals, often responding with weapons tests. Before the August exercises commenced, North Korea accused Washington and South Korea of plotting provocative drills and vowed to respond with a new level of deterrence, having previously fired two ballistic missiles into the sea in late June.

North Korea dismisses Donald Trump’s overture

Regional diplomacy remains tense against this backdrop. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Seoul during the week, urging South Korea not to take sides between Beijing and Washington while asserting that the United States should abandon its hostile posture toward North Korea to help ease Peninsula tensions.

Diplomatic efforts between Washington and Pyongyang have remained frozen since their 2019 summit collapsed over disputes regarding sanctions relief and the dismantling of North Korea’s main nuclear complex. Since that breakdown, Kim Jong Un has steadily modernized his weapons arsenal, expanded cooperation with Russia, and declared that his nuclear program is permanently off the negotiating table. Analysts point out that Pyongyang currently wields significantly more leverage than it did during the 2018 and 2019 talks, as Kim appears intent on securing international recognition as a nuclear state alongside extensive sanctions relief in exchange for minimal denuclearization steps.