Flashpoints | Security | East Asia

North Korea Fires 5 Tactical Ballistic Missiles

Pyongyang fired “surface-to-surface” missile launches roughly one month before U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing. 

The photo provided by North Korean state media shows the launch of one of the five Hwasongpho-11 Ra missiles tested on April 19, 2026.

On April 19, North Korea fired ballistic missiles toward its east coast. The latest test salvo came just 11 days after the previous missile launch on April 8.

According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), one of the North’s main state-controlled media, the missiles tested on Sunday were “surface-to-surface tactical ballistic missiles” in what Pyongyang described as a warhead performance evaluation of its upgraded Hwasongpho-11 Ra missile system.

“Five tactical ballistic missiles, launched towards the target area around an island about 136 km away, struck the area of 12.5~13 hectares with the very high density, fully displaying their combat might,” KCNA reported.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided the missile test. According to KCNA, Kim touted the results, which could “boost the high-density striking capability to quell a specific target area as well as the high-precision striking capability.”

On April 19, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) initially assessed the possibility that some or all of the projectiles may have been submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), citing the launch location near Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province – home to a key North Korean submarine base. The JCS said South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities had been tracking the launch and were conducting detailed analysis of the missiles’ specifications in coordination with Japan.

Hours after the North’s missile launches, the South’s Office of National Security held an emergency meeting and condemned the North’s missile test by calling it a clear violation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The timing carries significant diplomatic weight. The launches come approximately one month before U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing. Speculation has mounted that Trump may seek room to hold a direct meeting with Kim on the sidelines of his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Trump visiting the Demilitarized Zone of the two Korean Peninsula, or Kim traveling to Beijing for a summit, are two possible scenarios. As yet, however, it seems there have not been any working-level talks between the two countries to arrange such a meeting.

Last month, Pyongyang enshrined nuclear weapons as tools for the safety of its future generations during the sessions of the 15th Supreme People’s Assembly. In the past years since the end of the 2019 Hanoi Summit between Trump and Kim, Pyongyang has explicitly made moves – including the stipulation of its nuclear building policy in its Constitution – to clearly send messages toward Washington that it would never use its nuclear weapons as a bargaining chip anymore.

As Trump walked out of the summit in Hanoi without reaching an agreement, Pyongyang has demanded that Washington make concessions first in order to renew the stalled negotiations between the United States and North Korea. Without seeking any goals or preconditions to be settled in advance, however, Kim may consider having talks with Trump as Washington has little bandwidth to deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons given the current circumstances. Although Pyongyang has explicitly shown its antagonism against Seoul, North Korea has not used its traditional hawkish rhetoric toward Trump directly this year.

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