North Korea fires short-range ballistic missile into east coast waters

North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile over the Sea of Japan on Thursday (August 6, 2026), Seoul's military said, after Pyongyang lambasted Tokyo for beefing up its military stance in the Pacific.

North Korea has repeatedly declared itself an "irreversible" nuclear state since leader Kim Jong Un's 2019 summit with U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed over the scope of denuclearisation and sanctions relief.

Tokyo's Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said earlier this week that Japan's military needs to be boosted with a "sense of urgency and crisis", as a new government assessment warned of growing threats from China, Russia and North Korea.