North Korea fires ballistic missiles towards sea off its east coast
It comes as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will make a state visit to China starting on Sunday (Oct 4), where Seoul has said peace on the Korean peninsula would be discussed.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gestures as he visits a greenhouse farm construction site along the country's border with China, in North Korea, Jan 2, 2026, in this picture released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. (Photo: KCNA via Reuters)
SEOUL: North Korea launched ballistic missiles on Sunday (Jan 4), the day the leader of rival South Korea starts a state visit to China, Pyongyang's chief ally, and just hours after the United States attacked Venezuela.
The firings of at least two missiles, the country's first in two months, further heighten global tensions after US President Donald Trump launched the attack that captured President Nicolas Maduro.
South Korea said peace on the Korean peninsula would be on the agenda during President Lee Jae Myung's visit to Beijing, which will include a summit with his counterpart, Xi Jinping.
The launches from the capital Pyongyang into the sea between the Koreas and Japan represent "a message to China to deter closer ties with South Korea and to counter China's stance on denuclearisation", said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul.
He said North Korea also wanted to send a message that "we are different from Venezuela" - as a nuclear and military power, ready to respond with "aggressive deterrence".
Referring to North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, Bong Youngshik, a visiting professor at Yonsei University, said: "After seeing what’s happening in Venezuela right now, the person who would be most afraid is Kim Jong Un."
REACTIONS FROM SEOUL AND TOKYO
Seoul and Tokyo criticised the missile launches.
South Korea's presidential office said it had held an emergency security meeting and urged North Korea to cease "provocative acts that violate United Nations Security Council resolutions".
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the launches threaten the peace and security of the neighbouring country, the region and the international community.
"Our government lodged a strong protest with North Korea and strongly condemned it," Koizumi said in a statement.
US forces for the Indo-Pacific said in a statement that "this event does not pose an immediate threat to US personnel or territory, or to our allies," adding the US was consulting closely with its allies and partners.
"Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance in preparation for further launches," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, saying it is closely sharing information with the US and Japan.
KIM JONG UN FLEXING MILITARY MUSCLES BEFORE PARTY CONGRESS
The missiles, launched around 7.50 am, flew about 900km, South Korea's military said. Japan said there were at least two missiles that flew about 900km and 950km.
The last time Pyongyang tested its ballistic missile was in November.
On Saturday, Kim Jong Un called for more than doubling the production capacity of tactical guided weapons during a visit to a munitions factory, North Korea's state media reported.
In recent weeks, Kim has made a series of visits to weapons factories, as well as to a nuclear-powered submarine, and has overseen missile tests ahead of this year's Ninth Party Congress of the Workers' Party, which will set out major policy goals.
South Korea expects Beijing to play a role in promoting peace on the Korean peninsula, said Wi Sung-lac, Lee's security adviser, without elaborating on details of the summit agenda.
Lee's agenda with Xi includes persuading China to facilitate dialogue with North Korea, experts say, at a time when North Korea has dismissed an outreach from Lee, who took office seven months ago.
In their November talks, Lee already asked Xi to make greater efforts to persuade North Korea to return to talks.
Ahead of his trip, Lee gave an interview to China's state broadcaster CCTV in which he said that he hoped people would understand that his government cares about the relations between Beijing and Seoul.
Lee said Seoul's cooperation with the US, its military ally, does not mean South Korea-China relations should move toward confrontation, CCTV reported. He acknowledged that past misunderstandings between his country and China had hindered bilateral relations.
“This visit to China aims to minimise or eliminate these past misunderstandings or contradictions, to elevate and develop South Korea-China relations to a new stage,” CCTV quoted him as saying.
