SEOUL — North Korea says it conducted a joint live-fire exercise involving missiles, artillery and drones, describing the operation as a demonstration of concentrated destructive power. The country’s official Korean Central News Agency said the drill tested an integrated weapons-control system, according to the Associated Press.

South Korea’s military separately said it detected several short-range ballistic missile launches from North Korea’s eastern coastal Wonsan area on Saturday. The missiles travelled about 250 kilometres towards the North’s eastern waters, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, in figures reported by AP.

The drill followed a trilateral exercise involving the United States, South Korea and Japan. Pyongyang regards such exercises as provocations, while Washington, Seoul and Tokyo describe military coordination as a response to North Korea’s weapons programmes and the regional security environment.

The North Korean account cannot be independently verified in full. The statement about integrating missiles, artillery and drones describes the exercise from Pyongyang’s perspective; it does not establish how the systems performed, whether all the claimed elements were used as stated or what operational lesson the drill produced.

The episode nevertheless shows why the peninsula remains difficult to stabilise. A scaled-back allied exercise has not stopped North Korea from testing weapons, and the launches provide another data point for South Korean, US and Japanese planners. The immediate facts are a reported live-fire drill, confirmed short-range launches and a familiar cycle of military signalling.

*Reporting note: this article is based on the source record listed above and is current as of 14 September 2026, 14:00 BST. Figures, operational claims and casualty counts may change as authorities update their accounts.*