North Korea fires off missile hours after Trump says he plans to meet Kim
The missile is believed to have splashed down in waters outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.
North Korea launched a series of short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, according to reports from Tokyo and Seoul. The South Korean military detected around 10 missiles being fired from Pyongyang towards the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, according to the Yonhap news agency. Japan's Defense Ministry reported that the missiles traveled approximately 320 kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of 90 kilometers before landing in waters outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.
The flight paths of the missiles, as shown by a map released by Japan, followed the northeastern coast of North Korea.
The missile launch came hours after U.S. President Donald Trump claimed he planned to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later in the year. However, Kim's sister, Kim Yo Jong, dismissed Trump's statement, saying she was unaware of any communication between her brother and the U.S. president. She also labeled Trump's decision to reduce joint military exercises with South Korea as "unworthy of comment."
Trump has been actively promoting his desire to meet with Kim, but experts suggest that rekindling their relationship and restoring talks will be a challenging task for the U.S. president.
Written by urgent.news from Japan Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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