North Korea fires ballistic missile toward its eastern waters
- Last updated: November 8, 2025 | 12:02
North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Friday towards the sea off its east coast, South Korea and Japan said, following missile launches in the past two weeks and after US President Donald Trump’s renewed invitation for talks with Pyongyang.
South Korea’s military said the suspected short-range ballistic missile was launched from an area in North Korea’s northwest region near the Chinese border, travelling a distance of about 700km.
South Korean and US surveillance systems detected preparations for the launch and tracked the projectile in flight, the military said. The information was shared with Japan, it said.
The Japanese government also said North Korea had fired what could be a ballistic missile, which it said likely fell outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said there was no confirmed report of damage.
The Kremlin on Friday defended North Korea’s reported firing of a ballistic missile, saying Pyongyang had the “legitimate right” to do so.
“We are respectful of the legitimate right of our friends in the DPRK (North Korea) to ensure their security and take measures for it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, including AFP, in a daily briefing.
While visiting South Korea last week, Trump repeated his willingness to sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, raising expectations that the two could come to a last-minute agreement to meet.
No meeting took place, but Trump said he was willing to return to the region to meet Kim.
Trump met Kim at the Panmunjom truce village on the inter-Korea military border in 2019 during the US president’s first term when he was visiting the region.
Kim has not responded to Trump’s latest overtures but has previously said he had “fond memories” of meeting the US president and there was no reason to avoid talks if Washington stopped insisting his country give up its nuclear weapons.
On Thursday, the North’s foreign ministry said the Trump administration was “antagonising” it by imposing sanctions on its officials and institutions over allegations of money laundering and vowed to respond, without elaborating.
Earlier this week, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth during a visit reaffirmed U.S. commitment to the security alliance with South Korea. He said the focus of the US military stationed there remained on deterring Pyongyang despite the vision of more “flexibility” for its military against regional threats.
Reuters