The Defense post

North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into waters east of the Korean peninsula Thursday, Seoul’s military said, the nuclear-armed country’s first major weapons test since early July.

Leader Kim Jong Un‘s regime has staged dozens of launches this year, part of a testing spree that experts say could be linked to North Korea’s alleged illicit supplying of weapons to ally Russia for use in Ukraine.

Pyongyang has denied any sanctions-busting weapons trade with Russia, but with diplomacy long stalled, it declared South Korea its “principal enemy” this year and recently moved nuclear-capable weapons to border areas.

Seoul’s Joint Chief of Staff said it had detected multiple “short-range ballistic missiles” fired early Thursday morning from Pyongyang into the East Sea, or Sea of Japan.

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