SEOUL, South Korea (AP) 鈥� North Korea launched a suspected ballistic missile toward the sea on Thursday, Japan said, a day after North Korea shrugged off a U.S. decision to scale back military drills with South Korea in an apparent bid to resume diplomacy.
The Japanese prime minister’s office said it detected the suspected launch but gave no further details.
South Korean media, citing the military, reported that North Korea fired an unidentified projectile off the North鈥檚 east coast.
On Wednesday, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said they were scaling back their . That came days after U.S. President Donald Trump earlier ordered the Pentagon to , citing what he said was a good relationship with Kim and South Korea鈥檚 refusal to support him over the war in
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, . She said it was not even worthy of comment because 鈥淭he provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won鈥檛 change even though their duration and size were reduced.鈥�
鈥淚f the U.S. calculates that it can propagate its recent measure as the one of so-called good faith, they will not get the desired answer,鈥� she said.
She also cited a series of other military drills carried out by the U.S. and South Korea earlier this year and South Korea鈥檚 push to introduce nuclear-powered submarines.
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
