North Korea fired 10 ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday evening, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The missiles were reportedly launched shortly after 5 p.m. local time, and originated from the “Pyongyang area.” The launches come amid a rise in tensions between North and South Korea as the latter conducts its annual Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military drills with the United States.
The launches also come after two recent developments pertaining to geopolitical relations between the United States and North Korea. First, President Donald Trump announced earlier this week that the U.S. was cutting back the annual joint military exercise between the U.S. and South Korea. The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise typically runs for 10 days each year. However, Trump decided to shorten it to five days. The drills began on Monday and are now scheduled to conclude on Friday, August 21.
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“Based on direction from the President and Secretary of War, the Department has substantially reduced Exercise Ulchi Freedom Shield while continuing training that enhances tactical capability,” said a Pentagon official about the training exercise reduction.
“Associated live-training events have been reduced, with certain events canceled or converted to simulations. These adjustments preserve essential readiness and training objectives,” said the official. “There will be no degradation to U.S. training objectives.”
Truth cited the cost of the military exercises and the fact that South Korea wouldn’t help the U.S. with military operations in Iran.
“I am not happy with the fact that the United States has, long ago, agreed to participate in Joint Military Exercises with South Korea,” Trump posted to his Truth Social account on Sunday. “These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful.”
“While somewhat unrelated (?), I recently asked the President of South Korea if they would like to join us in the Denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, “No thanks!” Trump added.
SOUTH KOREA SAYS OFFICIALS ‘WERE NOT NOTIFIED IN ADVANCE’ OF TRUMP’S SCALING BACK OF JOINT EXERCISES
North Korea’s missile launches also came less than a day after Trump announced he would meet with Kim Jong Un, the country’s supreme leader, later in 2026. The missile launches were also detected by Japan’s prime minister and Coast Guard, according to reports. South Korea reportedly “bolstered its surveillance,” and the country’s national security council convened an emergency meeting regarding the launches.
Ballistic missile launches are prohibited under U.N. Security Council resolutions. After South Korea’s JCS confirmed the country’s missile launches, its national security council issued a statement condemning the launches and urging North Korea to stop them.
