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| ▲ North Korea's Missile Administration conducts a test launch of a new missile on Oct. 22, 2025, in this combined file photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency the next day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) N Korea-missile launch
(LEAD) N. Korea fires multiple ballistic missiles toward East Sea: JCS
(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; ADDS details throughout, byline)
By Lee Minji
SEOUL, Jan. 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea's military said, in what marked the North's first display of weapons testing this year.
The launch of missiles came as President Lee Jae Myung was set to depart for Beijing for summit talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It also came after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Washington has captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in a large-scale military strike.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the missiles launched from near Pyongyang at around 7:50 a.m.
"Our military maintains a firm readiness posture while closely sharing North Korean ballistic missile information with the U.S. and Japan sides amid a heightened surveillance posture against additional launches," the JCS said.
The North last fired a short-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Nov. 7, which was the North's sixth ballistic missile launch last year.
Experts assessed the U.S. military operation may have prompted the North to launch the missiles in an apparent protest.
"The U.S. strike in Venezuela and capture of President Maduro may possibly send a powerful message to Kim Jong-un, one of an existential threat and one on the justification of adherence to nuclear arms," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies.
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