North Korea launches ballistic missile, South Korea on highest alert, President Trump's stance on dialogue with Pyongyang.

North Korea test-fired the Hwasong-11 tactical surface-to-surface ballistic missile in April 2026. (Source: Yonhap)

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the launch was detected at around 6:30 a.m. on October 3 (4:30 a.m. Hanoi time) from the Wonsan area on North Korea's east coast.

The South Korean military has not released further details about the type of missile or its flight trajectory, but stressed that it has intensified monitoring for the possibility of further launches by Pyongyang, while maintaining the highest level of combat readiness and sharing relevant information with the United States and Japan .

Meanwhile, the South Korean presidential office announced it had convened a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss measures to respond to North Korea's missile launch.

According to Japanese and South Korean sources, the object launched was most likely a ballistic missile heading towards the sea east of the Korean Peninsula (Tokyo calls it the "Sea of ​​Japan," while South Korea calls it the "East Sea").

A Japanese government source stated that the object is believed to have fallen outside Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone. The Japan Coast Guard has advised vessels not to approach any debris found at sea and to report it immediately to authorities. To date, no damage or casualties have been reported.

The launch took place amidst particularly tense inter-Korean relations following the September 21 landmine explosion in the DMZ that injured three South Korean soldiers, two of whom were seriously wounded. Seoul accused North Korea of ​​planting the mines and considered it a serious violation of the armistice agreement. Seoul demanded an apology from Pyongyang and called for an end to military reinforcement and construction activities along the border.

However, North Korea immediately rejected the accusations. In a statement issued on September 30, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong Un and one of the most influential figures in Pyongyang, claimed that South Korea had fabricated the investigation results and warned of "uncompromising" retaliatory measures if Seoul took actions that North Korea considered to be in response to the incident.

On October 2nd, Kim Yo Jong reiterated her stance denying North Korea's responsibility for the landmine explosion. She also criticized South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's commitment to reducing military tensions on the peninsula.

North Korean officials also rejected South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong Young's proposal for dialogue to clarify the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). Earlier, Chung had suggested that the increasingly blurred markings of the demarcation line could be one of the reasons for the landmine explosions in the DMZ.

Meanwhile, on October 2nd, US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott stated that President Donald Trump does not consider dialogue with North Korea a "concession," and is ready to engage with Pyongyang if such action serves Washington's national interests.

Speaking to international reporters in Washington, Pigott emphasized that diplomatic engagement does not equate to compromise, and that President Trump remains open to meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un this year without setting any preconditions.

Nevertheless, a US State Department spokesperson affirmed that Washington's position remains unchanged and it continues to maintain its commitment to the goal of complete denuclearization of North Korea.

When asked about confidential communication channels between the two sides, Mr. Pigott emphasized that there was currently no information to release, and clarified that the U.S. State Department adheres to the principle of not publicly discussing sensitive diplomatic interactions with other countries.

Also at the press conference, when discussing US-South Korea relations, the US State Department spokesperson welcomed Seoul's investment plans in the United States, particularly in the energy sector, stating that these projects would benefit both countries.

The statement was made after President Trump announced on September 30th the list of South Korean investments in the US under the bilateral trade agreement signed in 2025, including one gas-fired power plant in Texas, eight large-scale nuclear power plants, and one liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Alaska.

However, the South Korean Ministry of Industry later noted that the LNG project in Alaska was not yet complete and Seoul needed to assess its commercial viability before making a final investment decision. The U.S. State Department stated that it was not aware of these specific statements from South Korea.