North Korea confirmed launching a projectile believed to be a ballistic missile into the East Sea on the afternoon of November 7.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reported detecting an unidentified projectile, presumed to be a ballistic missile, at approximately 12:35 p.m. The launch originated from the Daegwan area in North Pyongan Province and was directed towards the East Sea.
Reports from NHK and other sources suggest the projectile likely fell outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
A JCS spokesperson stated that the military has heightened surveillance and readiness in anticipation of additional launches. They are maintaining our alert posture while sharing intelligence with the U.S. and Japan.
This incident marks the second ballistic missile or suspected ballistic missile launch by North Korea since the Lee Jae Myung administration took office. The first occurred on October 22, when North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), believed to be from the Hwasong-11 series, in a northeastern direction from the Junghwa area in North Hwanghae Province. North Korea subsequently claimed, via the Korean Central News Agency, that these missiles were hypersonic vehicles.
In the past two weeks, North Korea has conducted intermittent missile launch provocations. On October 28, just prior to U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to South Korea, they test-fired a surface-to-surface strategic cruise missile in the West Sea. On November 1, minutes after South Korean President Lee and Chinese President Xi Jinping began their summit in Gyeongju, North Korea launched several rockets into the northern West Sea at around 3:00 p.m.
On the afternoon of November 3, multiple rockets (believed to be from multiple launch rocket systems) were fired into the northern West Sea. Coincidentally, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and South Korea’s Minister of National Defense Ahn Kyu-back were preparing for their meeting at the Joint Security Area (JSA) in Panmunjom for the 57th U.S.-South Korea Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), their first such meeting in eight years.