North Korea's missile tests escalate tensions with South Korea

In the statement made by the South Korean General Staff, it was reported that ballistic missiles, considered to be of different types, were launched from near Pyongyang at around 09:20 local time, and one of them traveled a distance of more than 900 kilometers.

Before this, the Japanese coast guard announced that North Korea had launched two unidentified munitions thought to be ballistic missiles, and both were estimated to have fallen.

Upon this development, the South Korean National Security Agency held an emergency meeting and condemned these missile tests, which they described as a violation of UN Security Council sanctions, and called for an immediate halt.

North Korea last tested a ballistic missile on October 3, and state media KCNA announced that this was a hypersonic missile tested under the supervision of President Kim Jong Un (above).

Song Seong-jong, a professor at Daejeon University in Seoul and a former South Korean Ministry of Defense official, said that with these unusually frequent tests, the Pyongyang administration is trying to strengthen its hand before a possible summit between North Korean President Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.