North Korea fires multiple ballistic missiles toward eastern waters

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters, South Korea’s military said, continuing a recent series of weapons tests amid a prolonged freeze in diplomacy.

South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs Director Colonel Jang Do-young said missiles of various types were launched from an area around Pyongyang. The country’s main airport, located near the capital, has been used frequently for launches in recent years. One missile traveled more than 900km before falling into the sea, Jang said. The military did not disclose how many missiles it detected or provide flight details for the other weapons.

Japanese Deputy Minister of Defense Takashi Koyari said Japan detected at least two missiles launched 17 minutes apart. He said the first flew about 220km and the second more than 910km before both landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. The longer-range missile followed an “irregular” flight path, a description Japanese officials have previously applied to hypersonic weapons.

No damage to aircraft or vessels was reported, Koyari said. The launches followed North Korea’s Oct. 3 test of what it described as a hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to evade missile defenses in South Korea and Japan.