National Defense

North Korea Fires Missile Barrage Days After Trump Scales Back Major Drills

Cheongwadae / Blue House, KOGL Type 1 <http://www.kogl.or.kr/info/licenseType1.do>, via Wikimedia Commons

North Korea fired roughly 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters Thursday, days after President Donald Trump ordered the United States to scale back a major military exercise with South Korea.

The missiles were launched from the Pyongyang area at about 5 p.m. local time and traveled roughly 300 kilometers before falling toward the sea east of North Korea, Associated Press reported, citing South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. South Korean military officials increased surveillance following the launches and coordinated intelligence with the United States and Japan.

The barrage came as the United States and South Korea approached the end of a shortened version of Ulchi Freedom Shield, one of the allies’ major annual military exercises.

Ulchi Freedom Shield began Monday and was originally scheduled to continue through Aug. 27, but the two countries agreed to end the drills on Friday and reduce some combined field training at Trump’s request, Reuters reported.

The exercises are used to train U.S. and South Korean forces for wartime missions and maintain combined readiness, according to U.S. Forces Korea.

Trump ordered Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to “substantially reduce” the exercises shortly before they began, citing their cost, his relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korea’s refusal to support the United States in its war with Iran, according to a Truth Social post from the president.

North Korea began testing a version of a new solid-propellant short-range ballistic missile in May 2019 and launched four new types of short-range ballistic missiles between 2019 and 2021, according to a U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report from 2021.

Pyongyang showed little indication that the reduction was enough to change its position toward the exercises. Reducing their scale or duration does not change their “provocative and aggressive” character, Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency.

Kim Yo Jong nevertheless said the personal relationship between Trump and her brother remained positive while denying Trump’s suggestion that recent communications had occurred between the two leaders.

Trump said Wednesday that he expects to meet Kim again this year, although he did not provide details about when or where another summit could occur, according to a transcript of his remarks.

Kim’s new missile tests could be a proving ground for lessons that the North Korean military allegedly learned through its participation in the Russo-Ukrainian War.

“There are reports that they are actually improving the capabilities of their short-range ballistic missiles, based on what the Ukrainians and Russians are doing,” Fred Fleitz, the vice chair of American Security at the America First Policy Institute, previously told the DCNF. “This is military experience that we don’t want the North Koreans to have. It’s making the North Korean military more capable.”

Thursday’s launches also followed two other North Korean ballistic missile tests earlier in August. North Korea launched at least one ballistic missile Aug. 6 before firing another Aug. 12 that traveled roughly 690 kilometers and landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, according to Japan’s Ministry of Defense.

North Korea’s ballistic missile program remains subject to international restrictions, with United Nations Security Council resolutions requiring Pyongyang to halt launches using ballistic missile technology, according to the United Nations.