North Korea fires missile amid tensions with US, South Korea

Friday was an important state holiday in North Korea, and the United States sent an aircraft carrier to the region a few days ago, amid concerns that Mr. Kim might mark the occasion with a major weapon test, perhaps even a nuclear device.

The United States and South Korea are going to begin annual joint military exercises on Monday. The drills are largely based on computer simulations and are said to be defensive in nature. North Korea has often responded to the joint exercises by the two allies as rehearsals for invasion and has often responded to them with weapon tests.

During the administration of President Donald J. Trump when the American leader and Mr. Kim were engaged in direct talks, the US and South Korea began cancelling or scaling back some of their joint military drills in hopes of adding momentum to the diplomatic efforts. But South Korea's president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, who will take office next month, has vowed to expand the drills, saying they are needed to help deter North Korea's growing nuclear and missile threats.

It wasn't immediately clear what type of missile the North had tested on Saturday. In the past, it has used the new type guided tactical weapon language to refer to the short-range ballistic missiles known as KN 23 or KN 24. North Korea has been testing a variety of missiles since 2019 in order to improve its ability to fire short-range conventional or nuclear warheads at South Korea, Japan and American military bases in the region.

In photos released by the North Korean state media on Sunday, the missile said to have been fired on Saturday resembled the KN-23.