North Korea fires missile as U.S. hits regime with sanctions, sends aircraft carrier to Busan

North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea on the afternoon of November 7, according to South Korean officials, in what analysts see as a protest against new U.S. sanctions and the recent arrival of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the South’s port city of Busan.

Experts say the launch may have been intended to push back against upcoming South Korea-U.S. defense statements expected to stress North Koreas nuclear disarmament.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missile, launched around 12:35 p.m. from the Daegwan area in North Pyongan Province, flew roughly 700 kilometers (435 miles) before landing outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Seoul and Washington are analyzing the missile’s specifications.

“South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies detected and tracked the missile immediately after launch, having already identified signs of preparation in advance,” the JCS said. The military said it has reinforced its surveillance and readiness posture and is sharing information with U.S. and Japanese counterparts.

Officials said the missile appears to be a KN-23, a model often referred to as North Korea’s version of Russia’s Iskander short-range ballistic missile.

It was fired toward Alsom, an uninhabited island off Gilju County in North Hamgyong Province — a frequent target area in North Korea’s missile tests.

The test is widely interpreted as retaliation for Washington’s recent sanctions efforts. On November 3, the U.S. State Department urged the United Nations to sanction third-country vessels involved in illicit ship-to-ship transfers of North Korean coal and iron ore — the first such move under the current Donald Trump administration.

Coming after President Trump’s publicly announced desire to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, some analysts said the sanctions appear to be retaliatory for the failure of a U.S.–North Korea summit to materialize.

The following day, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on eight North Koreans and two institutions for allegedly laundering cybercrime funds.

In response, Kim Un-chol, North Korea’s vice minister for U.S. affairs of the foreign ministry, issued a statement on November 6 saying, “We confirmed again the U.S. ulterior intention to be hostile towards our state.”

“Now that the present U.S. administration has clarified its stand to be hostile towards the DPRK to the last, we will also take proper measures to counter it with patience for any length of time,” he said, according to the Korean Central News Agency, referring to the North by the initialism for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Analysts say Pyongyang’s timing may also be linked to efforts to influence discussions between Seoul and Washington on a pending fact sheet on security cooperation and the joint communiqué from the upcoming Security Consultative Meeting, or SCM, both expected to include statements reaffirming their commitment to North Korea’s denuclearization.

The launch also comes just two days after the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington arrived at South Korea’s Busan naval base.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said the missile’s 700-kilometer range — enough to reach as far as the South’s Jeju Island — suggests it was designed for the Korean Peninsula.

“It signals a show of force against the deployment of U.S. strategic assets,” Yang added.

This is the second ballistic missile launch since the start of President Lee Jae Myung’s administration. On October 22, North Korea fired several short-range missiles from Chunghwa County in North Hwanghae Province and claimed the next day they were part of a “hypersonic flight” test.

North Korea has conducted a series of smaller provocations in recent weeks. On October 28, a day before Trump’s visit to Korea, North Korea launched strategic cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea. On November 1, about 30 minutes before a meeting between President Lee and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, Pyongyang fired several artillery rounds into the northern Yellow Sea.

Then, around 4 p.m. on November 3, it launched additional artillery rounds — about 30 minutes before U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth visited the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom with South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back.

Following Friday’s launch, South Korea’s Office of National Security convened an emergency security meeting with the Ministry of National Defense and the JCS. The government condemned the test as a violation of UN Security Council resolutions, urging Pyongyang to “stop actions that threaten peace on the Korean Peninsula.”