The two new "missiles" launched by North Korea were fired on Saturday, August 10, at dawn from around Hamhung, in the north-east of the country. They flew about 400 km before falling into the Sea of ​​Japan, said the South Korean staff, according to which it is likely to be short-range ballistic missiles.

"The army is monitoring the situation in case other launches take place and is ready," the military said in a statement.

The new round of shootings, the fifth in less than two weeks, came just hours after US President Donald Trump said he had received a "superb three-page letter" from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"Provocative" maneuvers

As is often the case when their relations go through a hole in the air, it is on these letters that the President of the United States relied to show that everything was going well.

In this "very positive" letter received Thursday, Kim Jong-un explains the reasons for the previous short-range missile fire, publicly presented as a "warning" against the annual military exercises conducted by the United States and South Korea.

These exercises were launched by Washington and Seoul on Monday for just over two weeks, despite warnings from Pyongyang. North Korea sees them as a preparation for a possible invasion of its territory, and as an obstacle to the announced resumption of talks with the United States on denuclearization.

Kim Jong-un "was not happy about the military maneuvers," Donald Trump reported, before aligning with the North Korean leader's position. "I've never loved them either, and you know why I do not like to pay for these exercises," he added.

The US president has previously criticized these maneuvers, which he considers too expensive and "very provocative", echoing North Korean rhetoric. He had canceled the exercises last summer and the magnitude of those of this year was revised downward.

Trump and relaxation with Pyongyang

By being in tune with the ruler of an enemy country, Donald Trump has also tapped his South Korean allies, with this annoying warning about the current dispute between South Korea and Japan: "They have to to reconcile because it puts us in a very delicate position ".

The President of the United States also said he thought, without further details, that he would meet Kim Jong-un for the fourth time, with whom he would exchange insults and atomic threats before their first landmark summit in June 2018 in Singapore.

Donald Trump repeatedly downplayed North Korean missiles, saying they were very "common" and unrelated to the nuclear program. His Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, assured that they did not hinder a resumption of negotiations.

The White House made no comment after Saturday's new shootings. "We are in close consultation with our Japanese and South Korean allies," said a senior US government official to AFP.

The Trump administration has relied heavily on relaxation with Pyongyang, touted as one of its major successes in foreign policy. Acting his failure would be very bad at fifteen months of the presidential election of 2020, at which time the billionaire Republican will seek a second term.

Missile fire is yet described as "provocative" by a senior US diplomat, who is also indignant at Kim Jong-un's unfulfilled promise to revive talks, deadlocked since then. failure of the Hanoi summit in February.

With AFP