North Korea fires two ballistic missiles with leader Kim Jong Un away in Russia

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles off its east coast, just hours before leader Kim Jong Un's meeting with President Putin in Russia. Japan lodged a protest and the missiles fell in the sea outside its EEZ. UN resolutions ban Pyongyang's missile and nuclear activities. Kim's command and control system for overseeing nuclear weapons is similar to those used by the US and Russia.

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles off its east coast, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Japanese Coast Guard said on Wednesday, September 13, 2023, just hours before leader Kim Jong Un was expected to meet President Vladimir Putin in Russia.

It was the first such launch to occur while Kim was abroad for a rare trip, analysts said.

No details on the size or range of the missiles were immediately available. But about five minutes after the first launch warning, Japan's Coast Guard reported the missile had fallen into the sea.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that Japan had lodged a protest against North Korea through diplomatic channels in Beijing.

Both missiles fell in the sea outside Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), he added.

The nuclear-armed North has conducted regular launches of everything from short-range and cruise missiles to massive intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can strike the continental United States.

All of North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear weapons activities are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions that were last passed with the support of Pyongyang's partners in China and Russia in 2017.