Nkorea fires projectiles for first time since May

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired two projectiles off its east coast Thursday amid stalled efforts to resume talks on ending the country’s nuclear weapons program, the South Korean military said.

The projectiles were launched from Wonsan, a coastal town east of Pyongyang, the capital, and flew 267 miles before landing in waters between North Korea and Japan, the South’s military said in a statement.

The statement gave no additional details, except that South Korean and American military officials were analyzing the flight and other data.

The launchings were the first such test since President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met June 30 in South Korea near the Demilitarized Zone.

The previous tests were fired May 9, when North Korea launched what military experts called short-range ballistic missiles.

North Korea has recently been expressing frustration with Washington and Seoul. It warned on July 16 that if the United States did not cancel a joint military drill with South Korea scheduled for next month, it might scuttle efforts to resume negotiations with Washington and even resume nuclear and long-range missile tests.

North Korea conducted its last major weapons test in November 2017, when it launched a missile believed powerful enough to reach the continental United States.

After Kim and Trump met for the first time, in Singapore in June 2018, Trump vowed to halt major joint military drills with South Korea. But the South Korean and American militaries have agreed to hold smaller and reconfigured joint drills, and August’s is one of them.

“North Korea is clearly upset that the U.S. and South Korea are conducting joint military exercises,” said Harry J. Kazianis, senior director of Korean studies at the Washington-based Center for the National Interest. “Because of this, Pyongyang has refused to set a date for working-level talks with Washington, won’t accept food aid from Seoul, and is now once again testing weapons systems that will surely increase tensions. We should not be shocked by this move and, in fact, we should have seen it coming.”

North Korean officials have recently indicated that they might not accept 50,000 tons of rice that the South has offered as humanitarian aid through the U.N. World Food Program, South Korean officials said Wednesday.