North Korea launches Ballistic Missiles into Sea of Japan amid rising tensions

North Korea on Tuesday, January 27 fired at least two ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan, according to officials in Japan and South Korea, just a day after a senior US defense official praised Seoul as Washington’s “model ally.”

The launch marks another escalation in Pyongyang’s expanding missile programme, which analysts say is aimed at enhancing precision strike capabilities, challenging the United States and South Korea, and testing weapons potentially destined for export to Russia.

Japan’s coast guard, citing the country’s defence ministry, confirmed that two ballistic missiles were detected flying toward the Sea of Japan. Japanese media outlet Jiji Press reported that the missiles landed outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff also said it detected multiple ballistic missiles fired toward what it refers to as the East Sea.

The latest test is North Korea’s second this month, following a missile launch carried out hours before South Korea’s president travelled to China for a summit.

It also comes a day after Elbridge Colby, the Pentagon’s third-highest-ranking official, visited Seoul and described South Korea as a “model ally.”

The United States and South Korea remain bound by a long-standing military alliance forged during the Korean War. Washington continues to station about 28,500 troops in South Korea as a deterrent against the nuclear-armed North.

Pyongyang regularly condemns joint US–South Korea military exercises, portraying them as rehearsals for invasion.

Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un criticised South Korea’s efforts to develop nuclear-powered submarines with US support, calling the move a “threat” that “must be countered.”

Former US President Donald Trump met Kim three times during his first term in office in attempts to secure a denuclearisation deal. However, talks collapsed after a summit in Hanoi failed to resolve disagreements over what Pyongyang would receive in exchange for abandoning its nuclear weapons.

Trump later expressed interest in meeting Kim again ahead of a regional summit in South Korea, but the overture went unanswered.

Meanwhile, North Korea has reportedly deployed thousands of troops to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to South Korean and Western intelligence agencies.

The missile launch also comes ahead of a major congress of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, scheduled to take place in the coming weeks — the first such gathering in five years. In preparation, Kim has ordered the expansion and modernisation of the country’s missile production capacity.

“With the party congress approaching, the latest launch appears intended to heighten tensions to reinforce internal discipline and consolidate regime unity,” Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said.

He added that the timing “may also be a response to Colby’s visit” to the Korean Peninsula.