SEOUL: North Korea fired what appeared to be two ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Tuesday, Tokyo said. South Korea’s Joint Chief of Staff also said it had detected a “projectile” being fired toward what Seoul calls the East Sea. Japan’s coast guard, citing the defense ministry, said it had detected two ballistic missiles and that both were estimated to have already splashed down. Japanese news agency Jiji Press reported the two missiles had landed outside of the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone, citing defense ministry sources.

According to the Japanese Defense Ministry, this is North Korea’s first missile launch since January 4 and the second one in 2026

North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan on Tuesday afternoon, Seoul's military said.