North Korea Fires a Second Ballistic Missile in a Week Before Joint United States-South Korea Drills

North Korea launched a ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast on Wednesday, its second test in less than a week, The Hindu reported. The launch came two days after Seoul and Washington announced that their annual large-scale exercises will begin on 17 August.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and Japan's Defence Ministry said the missile was fired from the Wonsan area, flew roughly 690 kilometres and reached an altitude of about 90 kilometres, France 24 reported. Deutsche Welle reported that Tokyo assessed the projectile fell just outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

Seoul's presidential office called the launch a provocation that violates United Nations Security Council resolutions and urged Pyongyang to stop, TASS reported. North Korea has consistently described the joint exercises, which run from 17 to 27 August, as preparation for an invasion, and has timed tests to coincide with them for years.

The launches themselves are routine. What has changed is the surrounding context. Japan is expanding its defense industry and its neighbors are raising military budgets, so each test now contributes to a procurement cycle rather than only prompting a diplomatic protest.