People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul on August 20, 2026. North Korea fired around 10 short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea's military said on August 20, hours after US President Donald Trump said he would meet Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un later this year. (AFP photo)
North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles on Aug. 20, Seoul's military said, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would meet Pyongyang's Kim Jong Un this year.
The latest launches from the nuclear-armed North come as South Korea and the United States hold a shorter edition of their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, following an order from Trump to scale them back.
Pyongyang has long condemned U.S.-South Korea joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion, often staging missile launches around the drills.
Trump, seeking to revive the bond he claims to have forged with Kim in his first term, told reporters at the White House on Aug. 19 he plans to meet the North Korean leader later this year.
The U.S. president also said it was important to "get along" with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons. Seoul says there are around 80-120.
Hours after Trump's remarks, North Korea fired more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area towards the East Sea at around 5:00 pm, South Korea's military said.
The missiles flew around 300 kilometers, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, adding that South Korean and U.S. authorities were conducting a detailed analysis of their specifications.
South Korea's presidential office held an emergency security meeting after North Korea fired missiles, condemning the launches as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions and ordering heightened readiness.
Trump's sudden focus on Kim and his scaling back of joint U.S.-South Korean military drills have alarmed Asian allies, while sparking speculation that he was seeking a foreign policy win as the Iran war stalls.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, said on Aug. 19 that her brother had "good memories and feelings" about Trump and that the relationship between the two leaders remains "excellent".
She said, however, that she was unaware of any current communication between the two leaders.
Her statement came hours after Seoul announced the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises would end on Aug. 21—about a week earlier than planned—"at the suggestion of the U.S. side".
The Pentagon said the reduced drills would cause "no degradation to U.S. training objectives".
The exercises are designed to prepare for a possible attack by North Korea.
The United States stations about 28,500 troops in South Korea to bolster the country's defenses, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
South Korea's defense minister, Ahn Gyu-back, said Seoul remained opposed to officially recognizing the North as a nuclear-weapon state.
Asked whether Washington had "given up" on North Korea's denuclearization, Ahn said he did not believe so.
President Lee Jae Myung—who has long pushed for stronger homegrown defenses to reduce South Korea's reliance on the United States—said on Aug. 19 he would "do his utmost" to support Trump's peacemaking efforts with the North.
