North Korea launches ballistic missiles, prompting 'stern protest'

North Korea made no public statement early Monday on its recent missile tests, according to state media. The Korean Central News Agency failed to report the launch of two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea, fired just hours apart on Sunday. Typically, North Korea announces missile tests the following day, though this pattern has become less reliable in recent months.

On September 3rd, there were three missile launches that went unreported. However, a launch on September 12th, which occurred a day after trilateral military exercises involving South Korea, the United States, and Japan, was reported two days later. On Sunday, North Korea launched two missiles from the Wonsan area, approximately three hours apart.

The first missile was fired at around 3:00 p.m. and traveled about 450 km, while the second missile was launched at roughly 5:50 p.m. and reached over 600 km, as reported by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. These launches came just before the U.N. General Assembly's high-level general debate, which was scheduled to begin on Tuesday (U.S. time), and the approaching summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President.