North Korea launched an unidentified projectile toward the East Sea on Sunday, according to South Korea’s military.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement quoted by news agencies, "The North has fired an unidentified projectile into the East Sea," while Japan’s prime minister’s office described the object as a "suspected ballistic missile". Japan’s Defense Ministry later said the projectile had "already fallen".
The launch followed a series of short-range ballistic missile launches eight days earlier, when North Korea said it was conducting a joint firepower drill. It also came after Pyongyang rejected a resolution adopted during the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) General Conference calling for an end to its nuclear activities.
North Korea accused "hostile forces" of attempting to dismantle its nuclear program and dismissed the IAEA resolution as having no bearing on its position.
Pyongyang has formally enshrined its nuclear status in law, with its leadership portraying its nuclear arsenal as permanent and irreversible. The country has carried out dozens of missile tests in recent years while leader Kim Jong Un has maintained a confrontational stance toward both the United States and South Korea.
Despite the tensions, US President Donald Trump has said he wants to meet Kim again. Trump said in August that he expected the two leaders to meet this year.
Asked whether he anticipated another meeting with Kim, Trump replied, “Yeah, I will."
Trump declined to say whether the two had resumed exchanging letters, responding, “I can’t tell you that," while stressing that he views his relationship with Kim positively.
“And you know what?" Trump continued. “The fact that I get along with him, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. He has 57 very powerful nuclear weapons."
Trump and Kim held three meetings during Trump’s first term. Their first summit took place in Singapore in 2018, followed by a meeting in Vietnam the next year. In June 2019, Trump became the first sitting US president to enter North Korea when he crossed the Demilitarized Zone.
Despite the unprecedented diplomacy, the talks failed to produce a concrete agreement addressing Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program.
In September 2025, Kim said he had "good memories" of Trump while making clear that North Korea would "never lay down our nuclear weapons."
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Yom Kippur in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)