North Korea fires two ballistic missiles days before Xi-Trump summit

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from its east coast on September 20, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. The first flew about 450 kilometers; the second, fired nearly three hours later, traveled more than 600. Both are presumed to be from the Hwasong-11 series.

It was North Korea's second launch in eight days. Pyongyang fired several missiles from the same Wonsan area on September 12, one day after a joint Japan-South Korea-U.S. naval exercise ended, describing that launch as part of a "joint firepower drill."

Two days before the latest launch, Kim Yo Jong — Kim Jong Un's sister — said North Korea must answer U.S.-led drills such as the Pacific Vanguard naval exercise near Guam with measures at least as forceful, and that the country's nuclear buildup would not change. A day earlier, Kim Jong Un had rejected renewed calls for denuclearization at an International Atomic Energy Agency conference.

Pyongyang has followed each allied exercise this month with missile fire.