North Korea launched two projectiles on Sunday in its first missile test since November, just days after South Korea announced it was postponing annual joint military exercises with the U.S. amid concern over the coronavirus.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said they were “believed to be short-range ballistic missiles,” and traveled approximately 150 miles before landing in the waters between South Korea and Japan. North Korea is banned from firing ballistic missiles under UN Security Council resolutions.
U.S. negotiations with North Korea over ending the country’s nuclear program have ground to a halt in recent months, with North Korea ramping up its weapons tests in an attempt to convince the U.S. to make concession. The Trump administration, however, has refused to lift sanctions in response to the provocations.
“They want to talk and we’ll be talking to them,” President Trump told reporters at the White House in October after a North Korean missile launch, but did not confirm whether the shows of military strength would impact the U.S.’s willingness to negotiate.
The outbreak of coronavirus in South Korea has worried health officials that the North is not prepared for an outbreak. Kim Jong Un’s regime has yet to report a single confirmed case, but North Korean media has reported that thousands are being closely monitored, and nearly 400 foreigners are being quarantined.
Last month, the U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about the North’s vulnerability to coronavirus. In a national address Sunday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he hoped for more intensive collaboration between the two countries in the wake of the outbreak, arguing that Koreans “will be safer” when the peninsula can work together.