North Korea's missile tests and Kim Jong Un's terms for talks with Trump

Testing intensified in 2022. In January, North Korea tested what it called a hypersonic missile and its longest-range missile since 2017, and in March it test-fired its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, yet.^[9][10][11] The United States and South Korea answered launches with missiles and fighter jets of their own.^[12][13] In November, the North fired 23 missiles in a day, one landing off South Korea's coast for the first time, and then tested an ICBM with the range to strike the entire United States.^[14][1]

The North also pursued new missiles and spy satellites. In 2023 it tested a new solid-fuel long-range missile and twice failed to launch a spy satellite before succeeding in November, with likely help from Russia, South Korea said.^{[15][16][17][18]} In 2024 it tested cruise missiles and a hypersonic intermediate-range missile, and state media reported a successful multiple-warhead missile test that South Korea said had ended in failure.^[19][20][21] That January, South Korea urged the divided UN Security Council to "break the silence" over the North's tests and threats.^[22] Another spy satellite rocket exploded after launch, and days before the US election the North tested a new ICBM.^[23][2]

Trump's return to office revived talk of diplomacy. He said in August 2025 that he wanted to meet Kim, and in September Kim said he was ready to talk if the United States dropped its denuclearization demand.^[24][3] The North fired missiles before and during Trump's visit to South Korea that October.^[25][26]

Launches continued through 2026. They included an engine test for a missile capable of reaching the US mainland and a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles in August, days after Trump scaled back joint military drills with South Korea in an apparent overture to Kim.^[27][28] In September, scientists reported an unexpected and prolonged increase in seismic activity at the North's nuclear test site since its last nuclear test, in 2017.^[29] North Korea's military ties with Russia are covered in a separate arc. North Korea fired about a dozen ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters in late October,^[30] Kim called for expanding its drone technology,^[31] and it launched more missiles in early November as it protested against the US.^[32]