Pyongyang fires missiles as Trump offers talks, Seoul seeks Beijing's help to revive North Korea diplomacy

North Korea fired a series of short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday afternoon despite U.S. Donald Trump’s recent reconciliatory gesture of scaling back ongoing South Korea-U.S. military drills and a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Seoul.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected that the North launched over 10 missiles from Pyongyang at around 5 p.m., adding that the South Korean military stepped up its surveillance and is closely sharing information with the United States and Japan while maintaining a full readiness posture.

Pyongyang’s latest missile launches came after Seoul and Washington announced Wednesday that the 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS), the large-scale South Korea-U.S. exercise that began on Monday and was initially scheduled to run through Aug. 27, would be cut short by half and conclude on Friday.

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in an English-language statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) late Wednesday, called the reduction of the South-U.S. joint military drill “unworthy of comment,” adding that Pyongyang has “no interest in it at all.”

She said that the joint military drills are still underway and an “obvious expression of their obvious hostility” toward Pyongyang.

Regarding the U.S. president’s assertions of communication with Kim Jong-un, she said she was “not aware of it at all,” but added that the North Korean leader “has good memories and feelings about Trump personally.”

Her statement comes after Trump announced on Truth Social on Sunday that he had instructed the Pentagon to reduce the joint allied drills, citing his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

When Trump was asked by reporters at the White House on Wednesday if he expected to meet Kim Jong-un later this year, he said, “I will be," without elaborating further.

Trump’s remarks come after reports that he asked aides to arrange a meeting with Kim Jong-un, which could possibly take place as early as during his visit to China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen in November.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang was on a two-day trip to Seoul, his first in five years, amid speculation over whether Beijing will play a mediator role if Trump is to meet with Kim on the margins of the APEC summit in China.

Wang held separate meetings with President Lee Jae Myung and National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac, an occasion to discuss bilateral ties and Korean Peninsula issues amid Trump’s renewed calls to revive talks with Kim Jong-un.

As Wang paid a courtesy call at the Blue House in central Seoul Thursday morning, Lee asked Wang to maintain close strategic communication with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun and National Security Adviser Wi regarding Korea-China relations and issues concerning the Korean Peninsula, the Blue House said in a statement after the talks.

Wang said that South Korea-China relations are continuing on a stable trajectory of development based on the shared understanding between the two countries’ leaders, and pledged to play an active role in faithfully implementing follow-up measures.

Wang further expressed his hope that the South Korean government, having successfully hosted the APEC summit in Gyeongju last year, would support and assist the upcoming APEC summit in Shenzhen.

Lee said that since his summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the two sides are seeing tangible results through the "full restoration” of bilateral ties and strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation in the economic sector based on political trust. 

Wi later held separate talks and a luncheon meeting with Wang to exchange views on the direction of development for Seoul-Beijing relations, the situation on the Korean Peninsula and regional and international issues, the Blue House said in a separate statement.

The two sides exchanged broad views on the recent situation on the Korean Peninsula, and Wi introduced the blueprint for peaceful coexistence on the Korean Peninsula outlined by President Lee in his recent Liberation Day address.

Wi explained the government's efforts to resume dialogue with the North, along with a phased and pragmatic approach to denuclearization that begins with a nuclear freeze. He then requested China's constructive cooperation in implementing this policy toward North Korea.

Lee proposed a multilateral dialogue among involved parties on the Korean Peninsula in his Liberation Day address last Saturday. Lee called to “initiate dialogue among directly concerned parties in order to conclude this long war” and “devise effective ways to curb advances in the North’s nuclear capabilities” as a part of his vision to “end war and transform the Korean Peninsula’s unstable armistice into a peace.”

Wang, according to the Blue House, told Wi that he would continue to play a constructive role in promoting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and both sides agreed to maintain close communication on this matter.

According to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement on Thursday, Wang said that China has played a constructive role in the Korean Peninsula issue, but stressed that "South Korea must realize true strategic independence and persuade the United States to abandon its hostile policy toward North Korea."

Wang called on South Korea to “realize true strategic autonomy, refrain from bloc confrontation and taking sides, and develop relations with major powers including China and the United States in parallel," alluding to Sino-U.S. strategic competition. Such remarks were not included in the Blue House statement.

The dialogue channel between South Korea’s top security aide and China’s top diplomat was restored after five years, the Blue House said, with the last such meeting held in December 2021. Wi also accepted Wang’s invitation for him to visit China at a mutually convenient time.

However, subtle differences in stance between Seoul and Beijing on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula were once again confirmed during Wang’s two-day visit.

After talks with Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Wednesday, Wang told reporters that reviving North-U.S. talks is a matter for the two countries to decide and said that “the United States must change its longstanding hostile policy toward North Korea,” drawing a line under Beijing's role as mediator.

North Korean leader Kim has consistently consulted with China ahead of his summits with Trump in 2018 and 2019.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry, in a press release released after the foreign ministers’ meeting and dinner Wednesday, explicitly referred to South and North Korea as "two states.”

This marks the first time the Chinese government has identified South and North Korea as two separate countries in an official statement and is seen as a move aligning with Pyongyang’s so-called "two hostile states" doctrine. North Korea's revised constitution has a new territorial clause and has dropped all references to unification with South Korea, underscoring its push toward a "two hostile states" policy.

On Wednesday, Lee posted on X that he has been carefully monitoring Trump’s social media posts and again pledged to become a “pacemaker” alongside the U.S. president’s role of “peacemaker” on the Korean Peninsula.

He recalled his recent discussions with Trump at the Group of 7 and NATO summits regarding the restoration of peace on the Korean Peninsula.

“President Trump's recent message feels like a significant decision reflecting deep deliberation to build peace on the Korean Peninsula, moving beyond hostility and confrontation,” Lee wrote.

“I fully agree with President Trump's determination that South Korea must take responsibility for its own security on the Korean Peninsula,” Lee added. “We sympathize with President Trump’s will and efforts to create conditions for dialogue to establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, even if it means scaling back the recent South-U.S. joint exercises and field maneuvers.”

He said he hoped “this decision by President Trump will lead to the establishment of a stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula through the building of trust and the resumption of dialogue between North Korea and the United States.”

BY SARAH KIM [[email protected]]