North Korea fires two ballistic missiles as nuclear deterrent threat grows

North Korea on Sunday launched two short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea, South Korea's military said, in the latest round of weapons activity by Pyongyang. The launches came days after North Korea threatened to strengthen its nuclear deterrent and respond to what it called US hostility.

The missile tests also came even after US President Donald Trump scaled back a joint military exercise with South Korea last month in an apparent effort to revive diplomacy with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But the chances of a quick return to US-North Korea talks remain unclear as tensions continue over military drills and North Korea's weapons programme.

South Korea's military said the two missiles were fired about three hours apart from the Wonsan area on North Korea's east coast. The first flew about 450 kilometres and the second more than 600 kilometres, both towards the North's eastern waters, before falling into the sea. South Korea's presidential office urged the North to immediately stop ballistic missile launches, which are banned under UN Security Council resolutions. The South's military said it remained ready to repel any provocation under its alliance with the United States. Japan's Defence Ministry also said it detected a suspected North Korean missile earlier on Sunday, but it did not land in Japanese territorial waters.

The launch followed a fresh exchange over US-South Korea military activity. Kim Jong Un's sister and senior official Kim Yo Jong had earlier dismissed Trump's move to shorten the drill, saying it would not change its "provocative, aggressive nature". North Korea's military later launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea, appearing to act on an earlier threat to respond to the US-South Korean exercise.

On Friday, Kim Yo Jong also criticised the recent US-led "Pacific Vanguard" maritime exercise involving the United States, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. She called it a "frantic military move" aimed at extending American hegemony in the Asia-Pacific. She said "regular US-led war rehearsals" were the main source of rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula and in the wider region. "Our will to defend our sovereignty will be expressed in clearer action and there will be never ever change in the course of intensifying the nuclear war deterrence," she said.

Earlier this month, North Korea carried out what it described as a joint live-fire drill involving missiles, artillery and drones, a day after the United States, South Korea and Japan ended a five-day trilateral military drill that Pyongyang had called a provocation. North Korea said it fired different types of weapons at the same time, in what appeared to be an effort to build the ability to overwhelm South Korean and US air defences.

Kim Jong Un has focused on expanding his nuclear arsenal since his earlier high-stakes diplomacy with Trump collapsed in 2019. When Trump ordered the Pentagon to "substantially reduce" the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise with South Korea, he cited what he called a good relationship with Kim, who has long described such drills as invasion rehearsals. Earlier this year, Kim said he could return to talks if the US dropped its "hostile policy" and accepted what he says is North Korea's status as a nuclear state. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Friday that renewed US-North Korea talks would be "an important starting point" for improving the chances of peace on the Korean Peninsula. "What is clear is that President Trump wants dialogue and I've also been encouraging President Trump to seek dialogue" with Kim, Lee told reporters. Sunday's launches underlined the continuing strain around military drills, stalled diplomacy and North Korea's push to build up its weapons capability.