North Korea Fires Ballistic Missiles In Its First Test of 2026.

Pyongyang; January 2026: North Korea has fired multiple ballistic missiles off its east coast today – 04th January 2026, Sunday, into the Sea Of Japan, as confirmed by Seoul’s military. This is North Korea’s first launch of the year just hours before South Korea’s leader heads to China for a summit. South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung left for China on Sunday, eager to boost economic ties with Seoul’s largest trading partner while keeping a lid on potentially explosive issues such as Taiwan.

Lee is the first South Korean leader to visit Beijing in six years and his four-day trip comes less than a week after China carried out massive military drills around Taiwan, the self-ruled island it claims as part of its territory. The exercise, featuring missiles, fighter jets, navy ships and coastguard vessels, drew a chorus of international condemnation that Seoul has notably declined to join. Lee, accompanied by a delegation of business and tech leaders, hopes to expand economic cooperation in meetings with President Xi Jinping and other top officials.

Seoul has for decades trodden a fine line between China, its top trading partner, and the United States, its chief defence guarantor. But Kang Jun-young, a professor at Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said Beijing was now seeking to draw South Korea away from Washington’s sphere of influence. “China views South Korea as the weakest link at a time when trilateral cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan is strengthening”, he addressed the media reporters.

Meanwhile, South Korean President Lee has deftly stayed on the sidelines since a nasty spat erupted between Beijing and Tokyo late last year, triggered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi‘s suggestion that Japan could intervene militarily if China attacks Taiwan.

A summit with Xi is planned for Monday, followed by trade talks with top officials including Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Tuesday, according to top South Korean adviser Wi Sung-lac.

North Korea’s today’s launch follows a US military operation against Pyongyang’s socialist ally Venezuela that snatched President Nicolas Maduro out of his country, for decades which remained a nightmare scenario for North Korea’s leadership, which has long accused Washington of seeking to remove it from power.

Seoul’s defense ministry said it had detected “several projectiles, presumed to be ballistic missiles” fired from near the North Korean capital Pyongyang around 07:50 hours. Japan’s defense ministry also said it had detected a possible ballistic missile, noting that two missiles reached an altitude of 50 kilometres and flew distances of 900 and 950 kilometres respectively.

The missiles “flew approximately 900 kilometres (559.2 miles)”, the military said, adding that South Korea and the United States were “closely analysing the specifications” while “maintaining a full readiness posture”.

The National Security Council in Seoul convened an emergency meeting after the launch, which a presidential office statement said “constitutes a provocative act in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.”

“North Korea’s nuclear and missile development threatens the peace and stability of our country and the international society, and is absolutely intolerable”, Japan’s defense minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters.

It is Pyongyang’s first ballistic missile launch since November, when it staged a test after US President Donald Trump approved South Korea’s plan to build a nuclear-powered submarine. Industry experts believe that Trump’s military operation against Venezuela on Saturday likely played a role in the decision to carry out the launch. Pyongyang has for decades argued it needs its nuclear and missile programmes as a deterrent against alleged regime change efforts by Washington. The United States has offered Pyongyang repeated assurances that it has no such plans.

“They likely fear that if the United States so chooses, it could launch a precision strike at any moment, threatening the regime’s survival”, said Hong Min, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification. “The underlying message is likely that attacking North Korea would not be as easy as a strike on Venezuela”, he said. A former senior North Korean diplomat said Pyongyang should learn from the US operation to detain Maduro.

“I hope it remembers former president Maduro for a long time, as a man who squandered a valuable opportunity through bluster,” Lee Il-kyu, Pyongyang’s former political counsellor in Cuba who defected to South Korea in 2023, said in a Facebook post on Sunday.

South Korean President Lee hopes to harness China’s clout over North Korea to support his bid to improve ties with Pyongyang.

North Korea has stepped up missile testing significantly in recent years. Analysts say this drive is aimed at improving precision strike capabilities, challenging the United States as well as South Korea and testing weapons before potentially exporting them to Russia. Pyongyang is also set to hold a landmark congress of its ruling party in the coming weeks, its first in five years.

Economic policy, as well as defence and military planning, are likely to be high on the agenda. Ahead of that conclave, leader Kim Jong Un ordered the “expansion” and modernisation of the country’s missile production and the construction of more factories to meet growing demand. State media reported on Sunday that Kim had visited a facility involved in making tactical guided weapons. Kim Jong Un have ordered them to expand current production capacity by 250%, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said.

Team Maverick.