North Korea Resumes Missile Launches as Talks With U.S. Bog Down

North Korea launched at least two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its eastern coast, signaling new strains with the U.S. just weeks after President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un met and agreed to restart talks.

South Korean officials said North Korea launched a new type of missile that traveled as far as 690 kilometers (430 miles) into the sea between the peninsula and Japan starting around 5:30 a.m. local time. The weapons, which officials said flew as high as 50 kilometers into the atmosphere, was fired from the coastal area of Wonsan just hours after U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton departed Seoul.

Kim Jong Un was known to be in the area at the time of the launch, Kim Joon-rak, a spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a briefing Thursday, indicating that the North Korean leader may have personally overseen the operation. Kim Jong Un was on site for similar tests in May that broke a 17-month lull in such provocations.

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