North Korea fires multiple ballistic missiles toward the East Sea

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Monday, South Korea's military said, the fourth round of launches in a month and an apparent answer to the South's own hypersonic missile test last week.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles, of more than one type, were launched from near Pyongyang at about 9:20 a.m. local time. At least one type flew more than 900 kilometers, about 559 miles, before falling into the sea.

Japan's Defense Ministry confirmed the launches, reporting two projectiles about 17 minutes apart. The first traveled roughly 220 kilometers; the second flew more than 910 kilometers at an altitude of about 70 kilometers along what Japanese officials described as an irregular trajectory, a flight path previously associated with North Korea's development of hypersonic weapons meant to evade missile defenses. Both fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, and no damage to ships or aircraft was reported.

South Korea's National Security Office convened an emergency meeting and condemned the launches as violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions, urging an immediate stop. Japan lodged a formal protest through diplomatic channels.

A South Korean military spokesperson said the launches appeared to be a show of force in response to the South's successful test of a domestically developed hypersonic missile on October 8, an event President Lee Jae Myung personally oversaw, as well as a deliberate demonstration of the North's own advancing capabilities.

The North last fired on October 3, when state media said leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test of a hypersonic intermediate range missile. South Korean counts put Monday's event at the 16th ballistic missile launch round of 2026, with the number of projectiles fired this year roughly triple the 2025 total.

North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.