North Korea reportedly fires projectile into eastern waters

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff detected a North Korean launch from the Wonsan area at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 3. The military stepped up surveillance and shared information with the United States and Japan. The firing came 13 days after two short-range ballistic missiles from Wonsan on Sept. 20 flew about 450 km and 600 km. Herald Business counted it as the North's 15th launch of the year. A Sept. 21 DMZ mine blast injured three South Korean soldiers, two seriously. Seoul blamed the North. Kim Yo-jong on Wednesday denied responsibility, called the charge a "self-staged provocation," said "our soldiers have never once crossed the border," and warned of merciless retaliation. On Friday she called President Lee Jae-myung's tension-reduction pledge "the climax of the farce that everyone should watch" and "the height of absurdity," and rejected the Unification Minister's dialogue offer as "a delusion not worth responding to and a one-sided lament." Japan's defense ministry described the launch as a suspected ballistic missile that fell into the water shortly afterward; South Korean officials had not yet determined the type. A JCS report said North Korean forces crossed the MDL more than 20 times in August and more than 30 times in September.