DOMINANT ANGLE
Seoul is scrutinizing the Trump-Xi summit through the prism of its own security, worried that the Washington-Beijing dialogue on artificial intelligence and trade will overshadow the North Korean issue, as Pyongyang ramps up missile launches on the eve of the meeting.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area on Sunday, at three-hour intervals (around 3:00 pm and 5:50 pm), the first traveling 450 km and the second more than 600 km, according to the South Korean JCS.
- 02
The South Korean National Security Office held an emergency meeting with the Ministry of Defense and the JCS after the first launch, judging that these launches violate UN Security Council resolutions.
- 03
According to Yonhap, it remains uncertain how far Beijing is willing to push Pyongyang towards dialogue, as Trump has reaffirmed his desire to reconnect with Kim Jong-un and Thursday's summit is set to focus on North Korea's denuclearization commitment.
ANALYSIS
Seoul, Monday, September 21, 2026. As Washington and Beijing announced on Sunday in New York the outline of a notification mechanism for incidents related to artificial intelligence, the South Korean press is mainly focusing on two North Korean short-range ballistic missile launches into the East Sea on the same Sunday — a sign that for Seoul, the Trump-Xi summit on Thursday in Washington is primarily being played out on the peninsula.
According to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), cited by Yonhap and the Korea Times, the two missiles were launched from the Wonsan region at approximately three-hour intervals, the first at around 15:00 and the second at 17:50. The first missile traveled approximately 450 kilometers, the second more than 600 kilometers; additional analysis was underway to clarify their characteristics. The JCS assures that South Korean and American intelligence services tracked the launches from their initial phase and shared the information with Japan.
The South Korean National Security Office (NSO) urgently convened the Ministry of Defense and the JCS after the first launch, estimating that these launches violate the UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting Pyongyang from developing its nuclear and ballistic arsenal. The Korea Times recalls that the North had already launched several short-range missiles from the same region on September 12, later presented as an artillery and missile firing exercise.
These provocations come as the summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, expected on Thursday in Washington, is to determine, among other things, whether the two leaders will reaffirm their commitment to North Korean denuclearization, an objective that Pyongyang refuses to pursue by continuing its nuclear and ballistic programs, according to Yonhap. Trump has repeated his willingness to reconnect with Kim Jong-un, possibly by the end of the year, but the South Korean agency notes that it remains uncertain how far Beijing is willing to push its Cold War ally towards dialogue.
For Seoul, the announcement of an AI notification channel between Washington and Beijing adds to a list of bilateral issues — trade, rare earths, semiconductors — on which South Korea has no seat, even though its own security depends on what is said, or not, about North Korea.
