North Korea fires ballistic missile as South hosts democracy conference

SEOUL — North Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea on March 18 for the first time in two months, at a time when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Seoul to attend a conference hosted by President Yoon Suk-yeol on advancing democracy.

South Korea's military said the missile was fired to the east of the Korean peninsula. Japan's Coast Guard also reported the launch of what it said appeared to be a ballistic missile by North Korea and said that the projectile had already fallen.

Japan later said it detected what appeared to be a second ballistic missile launch by the North, also falling outside its exclusive economic zone area.

North Korea's military has been conducting exercises using conventional weapons in recent weeks, often personally overseen by the isolated state's leader Kim Jong-un.

The show of force by Pyongyang comes as the militaries of South Korea and the United States carried out large-scale annual joint military drills for 10 days, which ended on March 14.

On March 17, the South Korean military also mobilised marines, attack helicopters and amphibious assault vehicles in drills aimed at surging troop numbers to reinforce western islands near the sea border with North Korea that had been bombed by Pyongyang in 2010.

Blinken is among senior officials from around the world attending the Summit for Democracy conference, which opens on March 18, hosted by South Korea. He will also meet his South Korean counterpart.

The summit is an initiative of US President Joe Biden, aimed at discussing ways to stop democratic backsliding and the erosion of rights and freedoms worldwide.

At its last ballistic launch on Jan 14, North Korea fired what it said was an intermediate-range hypersonic missile