North Korea launches 10 missiles into Yellow Sea during Hegseth’s visit

North Korea fired around 10 artillery shells from its multiple rocket launcher system earlier this week, coinciding with a joint visit by the defence chiefs of South Korea and the United States to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), Seoul’s military reported on November 4.

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the North launched the rockets toward waters off the northern Yellow Sea at around 4 p.m. on November 3. The JCS noted that an analysis of the weapons test is currently underway.

The timing of the launch was particularly notable, taking place less than an hour before U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived at Camp Bonifas — located just south of the Joint Security Area (JSA) within the DMZ — for a joint visit with South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back.

In a separate incident, the South Korean military confirmed that North Korea had fired another 10 artillery shells around 3 p.m. on November 1, coinciding with a summit between South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping in the southeastern city of Gyeongju, held on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

“Our military is closely monitoring North Korea's various activities under a steadfast South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture and maintains capabilities and a posture capable of overwhelmingly responding to any threat,” the JCS said in a statement.

While such multiple rocket launcher tests do not violate United Nations Security Council resolutions, the North’s 240mm systems are capable of striking Seoul and surrounding areas, heightening security concerns.

In a similar move last October, Pyongyang launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles less than a week before U.S. President Donald Trump’s scheduled visit to South Korea during the APEC summit — an act widely seen as a show of defiance amid heightened regional tensions.

By Vugar Khalilov