South Korea’s military says North Korea fired missile into eastern sea as Blinken visits Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired a ballistic missile that flew 1,100 kilometers (685 miles) before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, South Korea’s military says, extending its heightened weapons testing activities into 2025 weeks before Donald Trump returns as US president.

The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff say the missile was fired from an area near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang and that the launch preparations were detected in advance by the US and South Korean militaries. It denounces the launch as a provocation that poses a serious threat to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

The joint chiefs say the military is strengthening its surveillance and defense posture in preparation for possible additional launches and sharing information on the missile with the United States and Japan.

The launch came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Seoul for talks with South Korean allies over the North Korean nuclear threat and other issues.

Blinken’s visit comes amid political turmoil in South Korea following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law decree and subsequent impeachment by parliament last month, which experts say puts the country at a disadvantage in getting a steady footing with Trump ahead of his return to the White House.