North Korea fires missiles towards sea, escalating tensions on Korean Peninsula (Reuters image)

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles towards its eastern waters on Monday, South Korea’s military said, as Pyongyang continued its weapons testing amid heightened tensions and a prolonged freeze in diplomatic engagement.South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were launched from an area near the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Japan’s Defence Ministry detected at least two missiles and assessed that they had landed in waters outside the country’s exclusive economic zone.South Korea’s presidential office condemned the repeated launches, saying they violated United Nations Security Council resolutions and urging Pyongyang to stop such activities immediately.The latest launches came days after South Korea flight-tested its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon on Friday. Designed to travel at least five times the speed of sound and evade missile defence systems, the weapon was described by President Lee Jae Myung as an important step towards strengthening the country’s conventional defence capabilities.North Korea has intensified its weapons development as leader Kim Jong Un seeks to expand the country’s arsenal of nuclear-capable systems. On October 3, Pyongyang conducted a test of what it described as a hypersonic intermediate-range missile designed to penetrate missile defence systems in South Korea and Japan.The country has also carried out missile tests and live-fire drills and commissioned a new warship, underscoring Kim’s push to strengthen its military capabilities despite repeated US and South Korean offers to resume diplomatic engagement.Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have also been aggravated by a series of land mine explosions near the heavily militarised inter-Korean border last month that injured three South Korean soldiers. South Korea’s military and the US-led United Nations Command concluded that the blasts were caused by mines planted by North Korea. Pyongyang has denied responsibility and dismissed Seoul’s demands for an apology.

Kim has halted diplomatic engagement and cooperation with South Korea in recent years, describing the neighbouring country as a permanent enemy. Nuclear negotiations with Washington have also remained stalled since 2019, when talks broke down during US President Donald Trump’s first term.Kim has so far rejected Trump’s overtures to revive dialogue. Pyongyang has demanded that Washington abandon what it calls its “hostile” policy and drop denuclearisation demands as a precondition for negotiations.The impasse has complicated Lee’s efforts to pursue engagement with North Korea. While advocating dialogue and adopting a more conciliatory tone, the South Korean president has also called for stronger conventional defence capabilities and reduced reliance on the United States.Washington unilaterally scaled back a major military exercise with South Korea in August, with Trump citing his “very good relationship” with Kim.