North Korea fires two suspected missiles, ignores US offer of talks

North Korea on Thursday fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its sixth round of weapons launches this month, South Korea's military said. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the weapons, which were likely short-range, were launched from an eastern coastal area, but it didn't immediately say how far they flew. Pyongyang fired two suspected cruise missiles on Tuesday, which are not banned under current UN sanctions on North Korea. It also tested suspected ballistic missiles on January 14 and 17, and fired what it said were hypersonic missiles on January 5 and 11.

The last time North Korea tested this many weapons in a month was in 2019, after high-profile negotiations between leader Kim Jong Un and then-United States president Donald Trump collapsed. Since then, talks with the US have languished, and the country is reeling economically from biting international sanctions and a self-imposed coronavirus blockade. "The Kim regime is developing an impressive diversity of offensive weapons despite limited resources and serious economic challenges," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Seoul's Ewha University.

The renewed pressure comes as the pandemic further shakes the North's economy, which was already battered by crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons program and decades of mismanagement by its own government. Some experts say North Korea could dramatically escalate weapons demonstrations after the Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 4 in China, the North's main ally and economic lifeline.