North Korea Fires Two Missiles as Testing Blitz Continues

This photo provided on Oct. 1, 2021, by the North Korean government shows what North Korea claims to be the test firing of a newly developed anti-aircraft missile in North Korea, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
This photo provided on Oct. 1, 2021, by the North Korean government shows what North Korea claims to be the test firing of a newly developed anti-aircraft missile in North Korea, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
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North Korea Fires Two Missiles as Testing Blitz Continues

This photo provided on Oct. 1, 2021, by the North Korean government shows what North Korea claims to be the test firing of a newly developed anti-aircraft missile in North Korea, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
This photo provided on Oct. 1, 2021, by the North Korean government shows what North Korea claims to be the test firing of a newly developed anti-aircraft missile in North Korea, Thursday, Sept. 30, 2021. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)

North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles Thursday, Seoul said, its sixth weapons test this month in one of the most intense spates of launches on record that has delivered an emphatic rejection of Washington's offers for talks on its nuclear program.

Pyongyang has not fired this many missiles in a calendar month in decades, according to data compiled by the Center for Strategic and International Studies -- a Washington-based think tank, AFP said.

The last time they came close was in 2019, after high-profile negotiations between leader Kim Jong Un and then-United States president Donald Trump collapsed.

With US talks stalled since then, Pyongyang has doubled down on Kim's pledges of military modernization, embarking on a string of sanctions-busting launches this month, including hypersonic missiles.

The sabre-rattling comes at a delicate time in the region, with Kim's sole major ally China hosting Winter Olympics next month and South Korea gearing up for a presidential election in March.

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected two suspected short-range ballistic missiles fired from the Hamhung city area towards the East Sea from around 8 am (2300 GMT).

"The projectiles flew 190 kilometers (118 miles) at an altitude of 20km," they said.

Pyongyang fired two suspected cruise missiles on Tuesday, and tested ballistic missiles on January 14 and 17. It also fired what it said were hypersonic missiles on January 5 and 11.

"I believe, if we include the two cruise missiles, this is now the most recorded North Korean missile launches in any month ever," analyst Ankit Panda wrote on Twitter.

The barrage could be part of North Korea's regular military training, or linked to ongoing celebrations of Kim's decade in power or upcoming domestic anniversaries, he added.

The country is preparing to mark the 80th anniversary of the birth of Kim's father, late leader Kim Jong Il, in February, as well as the 110th birthday of the its founding leader Kim Il Sung in April.

- 'New capabilities' -
North Korea is reeling economically from international sanctions and a two-year-long pandemic blockade, but has managed to develop an "impressive" array of offensive weaponry.

Some of the recent tests aim "to develop new capabilities, especially for evading missile defenses," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Seoul's Ewha University.

"Other launches are intended to demonstrate the readiness and versatility of missile forces that North Korea has already deployed."

"Pyongyang is running hard in what it perceives as an arms race with Seoul," Easley added.

The distances and altitude of the Thursday tests indicate the launches are part of North Korea's regular military training, said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul.

Such tests are "aimed at thwarting the deployment of US-South Korea strategic maritime assets such as an aircraft fleet," he said.

"It also reflects Pyongyang's message to the global community that such training is part of its exercise of sovereignty and that the outside world has no business talking about it," he added.

Pyongyang has repeatedly defended its weapons programs as part of the "legitimate exercise of the right to self-defense's".

It has not tested intercontinental ballistic missiles or nukes since 2017, but last week hinted it could restart such launches, blaming US "hostile" policy for forcing its hand.

The diplomatic cost to Kim of the recent tests is minimal thanks to strong backing from Beijing, which has blocked efforts to impose new sanctions over short-range missile tests.

China's ambassador to South Korea, Xing Haiming, told local radio station MBC on Wednesday that North Korea felt it was not being given sufficient credit for its four-year moratorium on long-range and nuclear testing.

"They feel that such measures are not taken seriously and that no answers have been given" he said, speaking in Korean.



Australia Says Will Not Commit Troops in Advance to Any Conflict

Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
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Australia Says Will Not Commit Troops in Advance to Any Conflict

Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Residential properties are seen near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in, Sydney, Australia, July 10, 2025. REUTERS/Hollie Adams

Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, Defense Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Sunday, responding to a report that the Pentagon has pressed its ally to clarify what role it would play if the US and China went to war over Taiwan.

Australia prioritizes its sovereignty and "we don't discuss hypotheticals", Conroy said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance but by the government of the day," he said.

The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Elbridge Colby, the US under-secretary of defense for policy, has been pressing Australian and Japanese officials on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict, although the US does not offer a blank cheque guarantee to defend Taiwan.

Colby posted on X that the Department of Defense is implementing President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda of restoring deterrence, which includes "urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense".

China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking in Shanghai at the start of a six-day visit to China that is likely to focus on security and trade, said Canberra did not want any change to the status quo on Taiwan.

Conroy said Australia was concerned about China's military buildup of nuclear and conventional forces, and wants a balanced Indo-Pacific region where no country dominates. He said China was seeking a military base in the Pacific, which was not in Australia's interest, Reuters reported.

'GOAL IS NO WAR'

Talisman Sabre, Australia's largest war-fighting exercise with the United States, opened on Sunday on Sydney Harbour and will involve 40,000 troops from 19 countries, including Japan, South Korea, India, Britain, France and Canada.

Conroy said China's navy might be watching the exercise to collect information, as it had done in the past.

The war games will span thousands of kilometers from Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia's east coast, in a rehearsal of joint war fighting, said Vice Admiral Justin Jones, chief of joint operations for the Australian Defense Force.

The air, sea, land and space exercises over two weeks will "test our ability to move our forces into the north of Australia and operate from Australia", Jones told reporters.

"I will leave it to China to interpret what 19 friends, allies and partners wanting to operate together in the region means to them. But for me... it is nations that are in search of a common aspiration for peace, stability, a free and open Indo-Pacific," he said.

US Army Lieutenant General Joel Vowell, deputy commanding general for the Pacific, said Talisman Sabre would improve the readiness of militaries to respond together and was "a deterrent mechanism because our ultimate goal is no war".

"If we could do all this alone and we could go fast, but because we want to go far, we have to do it together and that is important because of the instability that is resident in the region," Vowell said.

The United States is Australia's major security ally. Although Australia does not permit foreign bases, the US military is expanding its rotational presence and fuel stores on Australian bases, which from 2027 will have US Virginia submarines at port in Western Australia.