JCS: "North Korea Fires Unknown Projectiles into East Sea" (Comprehensive)

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] North Korea launched an unidentified projectile into the East Sea on the 19th. This marks the seventh military demonstration by North Korea this year, and military authorities are currently analyzing the specifications of the unidentified projectile.

On the same day, the Joint Chiefs of Staff announced via a text message sent to the press corps, "At approximately 10:17 a.m., one unidentified ballistic missile was launched from the Sinpo area in South Hamgyong Province."

Since North Korea declared a five-year plan to strengthen its defense capabilities at the 8th Party Congress in January this year, it has been accelerating weapons development, suggesting that this may be part of a new weapons test launch. So far, North Korea has conducted four test launches of new missiles incorporating new technologies just last month, including long-range cruise missiles, train-launched ballistic missiles, hypersonic missiles, and surface-to-air missiles.

Military authorities are paying close attention to the fact that North Korea launched a missile while the senior nuclear representatives and intelligence chiefs of the three countries?South Korea, the United States, and Japan?are meeting separately in Washington and Seoul to seek the resumption of dialogue with North Korea.

Park Jie-won, Director of the National Intelligence Service, Avril Haines, Director of the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), and Hiroaki Takizawa (瀧澤裕昭), Cabinet Intelligence Officer of Japan, are scheduled to hold a confidential meeting at an undisclosed location in Seoul on the morning of the same day. Additionally, Sung Kim, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea, met with Noh Kyu-duk, Director General for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at the U.S. State Department building in Washington, D.C. on the 18th (local time). After the meeting, he told reporters that the U.S. and South Korean authorities will continue discussions on the issue of a Korean War end-of-war declaration and urged North Korea to respond to dialogue.

Furthermore, the senior nuclear representatives of South Korea, the United States, and Japan, who met in Japan on the 13th and 14th of last month, are scheduled to hold additional consultations in Washington on the 19th.