SEOUL — North Korea launched a close-range ballistic missile alongside multiple rocket systems toward the sea on Tuesday, May 26, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed — the first weapons launch from Pyongyang since mid-April and a pointed reminder that Kim Jong-un’s missile programme continues to advance unchecked.
The projectile, fired from Jongju city near North Korea’s west coast, flew approximately 80 kilometres (50 miles), the South Korean military said. State-linked South Korean media, citing the military, reported that the simultaneous launches involved multiple rocket launchers in what analysts described as a coordinated test designed to probe the survivability of South Korean and U.S. missile defences.
It was the North’s first weapons launch since April 19, when it fired multiple short-range missiles in a demonstration state media described as testing cluster bomb warheads.
Seoul said it was monitoring activities inside North Korea closely and maintained “solid readiness” to respond to any provocation under its alliance with the United States. The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command confirmed it was aware of the launch and consulting with South Korean counterparts.
Kim Jong-un has accelerated the modernisation of his nuclear and missile arsenals since his diplomatic engagement with President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019. In recent years, the North has deepened military cooperation with Russia, sending troops and conventional arms to support Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine, while separately cementing ties with China — North Korea’s economic lifeline and diplomatic shield at the United Nations Security Council.
Tuesday’s launches are likely to intensify debate in Seoul and Washington over the credibility of deterrence, coming just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping jointly voiced opposition to Western pressure on North Korea’s nuclear programme during a bilateral summit in Beijing.
South Korea’s National Security Council convened an emergency session following the launches. Japan placed its ballistic missile defence on standby, a standard precautionary measure when North Korean activity is detected in the region.
While the missile’s 80-kilometre range suggests Tuesday’s test was not of an intercontinental system, the simultaneous use of multiple launch platforms represents a qualitative escalation in the North’s testing tactics, mirroring patterns seen in previous years when multi-system launches were used to overwhelm defensive networks.
The launches further underscore the deteriorating security environment on the Korean Peninsula at a moment when diplomatic channels remain largely dormant on both the North Korea and broader Northeast Asia fronts.
With reporting from AP