North Korea fires multiple ballistic missiles towards sea off its east coast

North Korea fired ballistic missiles into the sea on Sunday, accelerating its missile launches amid Iran war tensions and talk of possible meetings with the US and South Korea.Pyongyang’s intense missile activity – this was the fourth such launch this month and the seventh of the year – is meant to display its self-defense capabilities while gaining international leverage, some experts said.“The missile launches may be a way of showing that – unlike Iran – we have self-defense capabilities,” said South Korean former presidential security adviser Kim Ki-jung.“The North also appears to be exerting pressure preemptively and make a show of force before engaging in dialog with the United States and South Korea,” he said.The seven-week-old US-Israeli war against Iran, which has as one aim the curbing of Tehran’s nuclear program, could reinforce Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, experts and former South Korean officials say.President Donald Trump, preparing for a summit in China next month, and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung have repeatedly expressed interest in holding talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.There are no publicly known plans for any meetings.Lee recently conveyed regret to the North for ​drone incursions from the South, receiving rare praise from Pyongyang.Sunday’s missiles were fired from near the city of Sinpo on North Korea’s east coast toward the sea around 6:10 a.m.and flew about 87 miles, South Korea’s military said in a statement.Japan’s government posted on social media that the missiles were believed to have fallen near the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, and no incursion into Japan’s exclusive economic zone had been confirmed.South Korea’s ​presidential Blue House convened an emergency security meeting, calling the launches a provocation that violated UN Security ⁠Council resolutions, according to media reports.It urged Pyongyang to “stop the provocative acts.”It was not clear wh...