North Korea fires ballistic missiles again, flexing muscle amid US-Iran war

Launch marks fourth this month as Pyongyang seeks leverage ahead of possible talks with US, South Korea

North ‌Korea fired ballistic missiles into the sea on Sunday, accelerating its missile launches amid United States-Iran war tensions and talk of possible meetings with the US and South Korea.

Pyongyang's intense missile activity - this was the fourth such launch this month and the seventh of the year - ​is meant to display its self-defence capabilities while gaining international leverage, some experts said.

"The missile launches may ​be a way of showing that - unlike Iran - we have self-defence capabilities," said South Korean ⁠former presidential security adviser Kim Ki-jung. "The North also appears to be exerting pressure preemptively and make a show of ​force before engaging in dialogue with the United States and South Korea," he said.

US-Iran war, Trump visit looms over launches

The seven-week-old US-Israeli war against Iran, which has as one aim the curbing of Tehran's nuclear programme, could reinforce Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, experts and former South Korean officials say.

US President Donald Trump, preparing for a summit in China next month, and South Korean President Lee Jae ​Myung have repeatedly expressed interest in holding talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. There are no publicly known ​plans for any meetings.

Read: North Korea tests cruise, anti-ship missiles from naval destroyer

Lee recently conveyed regret to the North for drone incursions from the South, receiving rare praise from Pyongyang.

Sunday's missiles were fired ‌from ⁠near the city of Sinpo on North Korea's east coast toward the sea around 6:10am (2110 GMT on Saturday) and flew about 140 km (90 miles), South Korea's military said in a statement.

Japan's government posted on social media that the missiles were believed to have fallen near the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, and no incursion into Japan’s exclusive ​economic zone had been confirmed.

South ​Korea's presidential Blue House ⁠convened an emergency security meeting, calling the launches a provocation that violated UN Security Council resolutions, according to media reports. It urged Pyongyang to "stop the provocative acts".

Read More: Kim Jong Un says North Korea’s nuclear status is irreversible, threatens South

It was not ​clear what kind of ballistic missiles were fired, but Sinpo has submarines and equipment ​for test-firing submarine-launched ⁠ballistic missiles. The North last fired a ballistic missile from a submarine in May 2022, and it flew as far as 600 km (370 miles).

North Korea has made "very serious" advances in its ability to turn out nuclear weapons, with the probable addition ⁠of a ​new uranium enrichment facility, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi ​said on Wednesday.

In late March, North Korean leader Kim said Pyongyang's status as a nuclear-armed state was irreversible and expanding a "self-defensive nuclear deterrent" was essential ​to national security.