Seoul Demands North Korea Halt Missile Tests After East Sea Launch

South Korea's presidential National Security Office (NSO) called on North Korea to immediately halt its missile launches, describing them as major violations of international rules. Presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a written update that the demand was issued during an emergency meeting called to review the recent ballistic missiles fired from the Pyongyang region into the East Sea.

The emergency security session followed an earlier report that North Korea had launched an unspecified projectile toward the East Sea. According to Yonhap, which cited South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the military detected the launch but released no details about the flight path or the type of weapon involved.

The latest firing adds to a series of recent North Korean missile tests. Authorities had previously reported a ballistic missile launch on October 3 from the Wonsan area, also directed toward the same eastern waters.

Tensions between the two Koreas have extended beyond military launches in recent days. On October 8, Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, condemned South Korea's plan to send medical equipment to Pyongyang, calling it a political provocation, according to the Korean Central News Agency. She criticized Seoul's request for a United Nations sanctions exemption to deliver the supplies.

Seoul has separately moved to hold Pyongyang accountable for a landmine blast that injured three South Korean soldiers. Yonhap reported that South Korea concluded the mines were planted by North Korea on the South Korean side of the Military Demarcation Line and was responsible for the September 21 blast, with Seoul planning to formalize the armistice violations after a joint investigation with the UN Command.

The NSO's demand signals that Seoul is treating the repeated launches as a growing security concern, though no further steps were announced beyond the call for an immediate halt.