North Korea launches ballistic missile

North Korea launched a ballistic missile on Saturday, the South Korean army announced.

“Our armed forces detected a ballistic missile fired from the Wonsan area of ​​North Korea towards the East Sea,” Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, using the Korean name for the Sea of ​​Japan.

The projectile fell into the sea about 700 km from its launch point, he said. This new shot comes amid renewed tension between North Korea and South Korea, which has accused its neighbor of having laid antipersonnel mines in its part of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) which separates them.

“A clear violation of the armistice agreement”

The explosion of two of these devices injured three South Korean soldiers on September 21. Seoul demanded an apology from Pyongyang for the incident, which it described as a violation of the 1953 armistice, which ended the Korean War.

“This is a clear violation of the armistice agreement, and since North Korea bears responsibility, we will take appropriate measures,” said South Korean Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul. North Korea has denied responsibility for the incident and rejected Seoul's demand for an apology as "pathetic."

“We are ready for anything, whatever option they choose,” Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un seen as an unofficial spokeswoman for Pyongyang, said in response to Kang Shin-chul’s warnings.

Under heavy United Nations sanctions

North Korea is under heavy United Nations sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile programs, which it views as life insurance against any attempted invasion or overthrow of its regime by the United States.

Pyongyang, which concluded a mutual defense agreement with Moscow in 2024, has been accused by kyiv of supplying ballistic missiles to Russia to attack Ukraine.

She also systematically rejected all attempts at rapprochement made in recent months by center-left South Korean President Lee Jae Myung. Pyongyang “will never tolerate the slightest breach or the slightest possible space of contact with the Republic of Korea, whatever the circumstances,” Kim Yo Jong declared on Friday, quoted by the official North Korean agency KCNA. “Sitting at the same table as the Republic of Korea is a nightmare in itself,” she said.