North Korea has launched multiple ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area toward the Sea of Japan, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff reported.
Military monitors detected several missiles launched toward the East Sea at approximately 09:20 local time (0020 GMT). Following the detection, South Korean military officials confirmed that forces have "stepped up surveillance and vigilance against possible additional launches."
The event marks the latest escalation after Pyongyang conducted a missile test earlier this month on October 3. Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, stated at the time that the October 3 weapon "is capable of changing its flight orbit at a low altitude and AI was introduced into it."
In response to regional security developments, Seoul announced days later that it had successfully tested its first homegrown hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV). Carried into the upper atmosphere by ballistic missiles or rocket boosters before gliding toward assigned targets, the HGV offers "a new deterrence capability capable of striking key targets within the Korean Peninsula's operational environment," according to South Korea's presidential office.
Tensions between the neighboring nations have intensified following an incident in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), which has served as a buffer region since the 1953 armistice. Three South Korean soldiers were injured when two landmines detonated in a Seoul-controlled portion of the zone. A joint investigation by Seoul and the United Nations alleged that North Korea had planted the landmines over a year ago, an assertion that Pyongyang has angrily denied.
