North Korea fired multiple missiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday morning, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, in the latest in a rapid run of weapons tests by Pyongyang.
The missiles were launched from the Sondok area in South Hamgyong Province, on North Korea’s east coast, early on Wednesday, the Joint Chiefs said. South Korean and American authorities are analysing the specifications of the projectiles, which are believed to have flown less than 300 kilometres. Seoul has left open the possibility that they were close-range ballistic missiles, and said the launch had been closely monitored from the preparation stage and tracked immediately after liftoff.
The launch came hours after Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and a senior official in the ruling Workers’ Party, said Pyongyang had no need to sit down with Washington while the United States maintained what she called a hostile policy. In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, she again denied that North Korea was behind the theft of more than $6 billion in crypto assets from the Binance exchange, an accusation made by the FBI, and criticised joint American-South Korean military exercises, Washington’s demand for denuclearisation and a US State Department report on human trafficking. She said the abandonment of US hostile policy was the major premise for solving problems between the two countries, while adding that the choice for peace includes dialogue — a qualification that stops short of permanently closing the door to talks, even as it dampens speculation about a possible summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump later this month.
Wednesday’s launch appears to be the third ballistic missile launch by North Korea in a week, and what Reuters described as its fourth weapons test in the past month. On 29 October, Pyongyang fired around a dozen short-range ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area toward the East Sea, and days later state media reported a test of a cluster-bomb warhead for tactical ballistic missiles. North Korea has carried out a series of weapons tests this year, including one missile that flew more than 900 kilometres and hypersonic missiles.
One Seoul-based analyst, Shin Jong-woo of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, told Yonhap News Agency that the latest missiles appeared to be the Hwasong-11 Ra, a surface-to-surface tactical ballistic missile. That identification is an analyst’s assessment, not a confirmation by Seoul or Washington, and neither government has yet confirmed the type of weapon fired, its exact range or the purpose of the launch. A missile expert at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Lee Choon-geun, told Reuters that the frequency of this year’s tests suggested Pyongyang could be nearing preparations for mass production, potentially including weapons for export to Russia — an assessment that is also unverified.
The launch also followed a North Korean media report that Kim Jong Un had visited a naval shipyard building a destroyer and stressed the importance of a powerful naval force, underlining a wider military build-up that Seoul and Washington are watching closely.
Sources: Reuters, “North Korea fires unidentified projectile toward sea off its east coast, Seoul says”, 4 November 2026, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-fires-unidentified-projectile-toward-sea-off-its-east-coast-seoul-2026-11-04/ ; Reuters, “North Korea denies Binance accusation, refuses dialogue with Washington”, 3 November 2026, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-denies-binance-accusation-refuses-dialogue-with-washington-2026-11-03/ ; Yonhap News Agency, “(2nd LD) N. Korea fires multiple missiles toward East Sea: JCS”, 4 November 2026, https://korean-vibe.com/article/179561243111076 ; Korea JoongAng Daily, “North Korea fires unidentified projectile toward East Sea, JCS says”, 4 November 2026, https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/korea/north-korea-fires-unidentified-projectile-toward-east-sea-jcs-says/12954722
