North Korea launched multiple artillery rockets just an hour before United States Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth arrived at the inter-Korean border, South Korea’s military confirmed to AFP on Tuesday.
According to Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), Pyongyang had also fired similar projectiles only minutes before South Korean President Lee Jae Myung met with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, highlighting a pattern of timed provocations coinciding with key diplomatic events.
The JCS reported that roughly ten artillery rockets were detected being launched into the northern part of the West Sea—Seoul’s term for the Yellow Sea. The firings took place at approximately 3:00 p.m. (0600 GMT) on Saturday and 4:00 p.m. (0700 GMT) on Monday.
“Details of the projectiles are currently being closely analysed by South Korean and US intelligence authorities,” the JCS said in a statement.
Hegseth, who on Monday became the first US Defence Secretary in eight years to visit the heavily fortified border dividing the two Koreas, toured Panmunjom—the symbolic truce village where troops from both sides stand guard face-to-face—and later visited Observation Post Ouellette overlooking the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ).
During his visit, Hegseth and his South Korean counterpart, Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back, “reaffirmed the strong combined defence posture and close cooperation between South Korea and the United States,” according to a statement released by Seoul’s defence ministry.
Hegseth’s trip followed US President Donald Trump’s recent overtures toward North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during his Asia tour last week, which have so far elicited no official response from Pyongyang. Despite this, Trump has said he remains open to “coming back” for future talks with Kim.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, President Lee Jae Myung met President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of an Asian economic summit, where he urged China to play a constructive role in helping Seoul “resume dialogue” with Pyongyang.
Lee also underscored the importance of maintaining regional “stability” and referenced the “recent high-level exchanges between China and North Korea”—a nod to Kim Jong Un’s attendance at a major military parade in Beijing in September, seen by observers as a sign of deepening ties between the two allies.