North Korea fires a suspected missile toward the sea, Japan says

U.S. Army soldiers try to dismantle a floating bridge during a training exercise on a river in Yeoncheon, South Korea, near the border with North Korea, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. Ahn Young-joon/AP hide caption

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea launched a suspected ballistic missile toward the sea on Thursday, Japan said, a day after North Korea shrugged off a U.S. decision to scale back military drills with South Korea in an apparent bid to resume diplomacy.

The Japanese prime minister's office said it detected the suspected launch but gave no further details.

South Korean media, citing the military, reported that North Korea fired an unidentified projectile off the North's east coast.

On Wednesday, the South Korean and U.S. militaries said they were scaling back their 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises. That came days after U.S. President Donald Trump earlier ordered the Pentagon to "substantially reduce" the exercises, citing what he said was a good relationship with Kim and South Korea's refusal to support him over the war in Iran.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, dismissed Trump's overture later Wednesday. She said it was not even worthy of comment because "The provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won't change even though their duration and size were reduced."

"If the U.S. calculates that it can propagate its recent measure as the one of so-called good faith, they will not get the desired answer," she said.

She also cited a series of other military drills carried out by the U.S. and South Korea earlier this year and South Korea's push to introduce nuclear-powered submarines.