SEOUL, South Korea _ North Korea fired multiple unidentified projectiles off its east coast early Wednesday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said, the second such launch in less than a week.
The projectiles were launched from the Hodo Peninsula in South Hamgyong province Wednesday, the Joint Chiefs said. The South Korean military was monitoring the situation on watch for additional launches.
The Trump administration was aware of the reports of a missile launch from North Korea and would continue to monitor the situation, a State Department official said. The projectiles didn't reach Japan's exclusive economic zone and posed no threat to the country's national security, broadcaster NHK reported, citing the defense ministry.
The launches come as U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo heads to Bangkok for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations gathering. Pompeo told reporters while en route to the region earlier that he didn't expect the North Koreans to attend.
The meeting would have been the first chance for an encounter between the two sides since U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shook hands in the Demilitarized Zone last month and agreed to restart working-level talks. North Korea warned earlier this month that Kim said that upcoming South Korea-U.S. military drills risked jeopardizing those negotiations.
"We knew last week's launches weren't going to be the end for now," said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a Seoul-based analyst with NK Pro. "That said, today's launches seem to track with the behavior North Korea has shown vis-a-vis the U.S. over the past few months of escalating pressure without crossing the line."
After the previous missile tests on July 25, the official Korean Central News Agency said Kim oversaw the "power demonstration fire" of a new type of tactical guided weapon Thursday "to send a solemn warning" to his rivals in South Korea. While the statement didn't mention Trump or the U.S., it criticized South Korea's acceptance of American weapons and participation in the joint drills.
Trump has shrugged off similar tests because they didn't violate Kim's moratorium on larger missiles that could reach the U.S. "They really haven't tested to missiles other than, you know, smaller ones, the _ which is something that lots test," the U.S. president told the "Hannity" show on Fox News last week.
