North Korea fires unidentified projectile after dismissing scaled-back US drills

North Korea fired an unidentified projectile off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea said, hours after Pyongyang dismissed US President Donald Trump's decision to scale back military exercises with South Korea.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff announced the launch but did not immediately provide further details about the projectile.

The Japanese prime minister's office said it detected the suspected launch but gave no further details either.

It came after North Korea said a US decision to scale back military exercises with South Korea did not change what it sees as the provocative nature of the drills, dampening hopes for an early resumption of diplomacy between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Trump.

The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made the comments late on Wednesday night in her country’s first reaction to Trump’s moves to drastically cut back the annual US-South Korean military drills.

“We think it’s not worth making comments on that and we have no interest in it at all,” Kim Yo Jong said in a statement carried by state media.

“The provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won’t change even though their duration and size were reduced.”

She also cited a series of other military drills carried out by the Washington and Seoul earlier this year, and South Korea’s push to introduce nuclear-powered submarines.

Kim Yo Jong denied that there are any communications between Trump and her brother. Earlier this week, pressed by reporters on whether he had a conversation with Kim Jong Un, Trump said that the North Korean leader had responded to his request for a conversation.

Kim Yo Jong's statement did not contain North Korea’s typically harsh rhetoric. She briefly said relations between her brother and Trump are “still excellent," mentioning her brother’s past comments that he still has “good memories” of Trump.

This suggests North Korea may be trying to manage relations with Trump, while seeking bigger concessions to restart talks.

When asked by reporters Wednesday if he will meet with Kim Jong Un this year, Trump said that “Yeah, I will be.” He wouldn’t answer a question about whether he is exchanging letters with Kim but said he gets along with him.

Kim Yo Jong's statement came hours after the South Korean and US militaries confirmed they were scaling back their 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises. Trump earlier ordered the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” the exercises, citing what he said was a “very good relationship” with Kim and South Korea’s refusal to support him in his war in Iran.

South Korean officials said Trump’s announcement came without prior notice, baffling many people in the Asian country and raising concerns about joint defence readiness.

South Korea’s military said the allies agreed to adjust the duration and scale of the exercises at Washington’s request. It said the ongoing drills would end on Friday, not 27 August as initially planned, adding that the allies also agreed to downsize some joint field training exercises.

Ulchi Freedom Shield is largely a computer-simulated command post exercise meant to boost the allies’ readiness to respond to potential North Korean aggression.