SEOUL, South Korea _ North Korea fired several unidentified projectiles as Kim Jong Un's regime escalated threats against U.S.-South Korea joint military drills and continued to defy a United Nations call to halt its nuclear weapons development.
The projectiles, launched at 6:49 a.m. from Gangwon Province, flew 155 miles in a northeasterly direction, South Korea's joint chief of staff said in a text message.
The launch breaks what appeared to be an easing of tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea has conducted more than a dozen missile tests this year as Kim Jong Un's regime seeks the capability to hit the continental U.S. with a nuclear weapon.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in called a national security council meeting.
As the detente neared a month, President Donald Trump said Tuesday North Korean leader Kim is beginning to respect the U.S., comments that suggested his administration was moving closer to seeking talks over Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal.
The U.S. and its allies had warned Kim against launching missiles toward Guam, home to key American military bases in the Pacific. Japan deployed four Patriot missile interceptors into the western part of the country, under the flight path toward the U.S. territory.
Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to tighten sanctions on North Korea, targeting about a third of the nation's roughly $3 billion in exports. Kim's regime has said it won't give up its nuclear weapons and missile program until the U.S. drops its "hostile" policies.
North Korea has produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit atop its missiles, surpassing a key technological hurdle, The Washington Post reported Aug. 8, citing a Defense Intelligence Agency analysis completed in July. North Korea claimed it achieved that milestone after a nuclear test last year.
An ICBM launched July 28 reached an altitude of about 2,300 miles and flew for 45 minutes, giving it a range of about 6,200 miles if fired at a typical trajectory. It's unclear whether the re-entry vehicles required to deliver a nuclear warhead survived intact.
The regime has been conducting separate tests of a nuclear bomb, with the most recent detonation occurring last September.
Kim's provocations are a headache for Moon, who won office in May pledging to engage with the regime to help bring peace to the peninsula. Moon said in a Berlin speech last month that he was willing, under the right circumstances, to meet Kim "anytime, anywhere."
North Korea has yet to respond to an offer by Moon to seek a deal by 2020 to bring about the "complete denuclearization" of the isolated nation in return for a peace treaty that would guarantee the survival of Kim's regime.
China has been cautious about squeezing Kim too hard given concerns it could spark a messy collapse of his regime and a refugee crisis on its border. Beijing also worries that such a development could lead to a beefed-up U.S. military presence in the area.
