As Trump courts Kim, Pyongyang ups price while Seoul fears being sidelined

People watch a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul on August 20, 2026. North Korea fired around 10 short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea's military said on August 20, hours after US President Donald Trump said he would meet Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong Un later this year. JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images SEOUL - North Korea rebuffed President Trump's apparent bid to reengage with Pyongyang diplomatically this week, issuing rhetorical salvos aimed at Trump's last-minute orders to shorten U.S.- South Korea joint military exercises. To reinforce its point, the North followed up later in the day with a barrage of about a dozen short-range ballistic missiles launched from around the capital Pyongyang eastward toward the sea, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff. The U.S. and South Korean militaries wrapped up their annual drills six days earlier than initially scheduled on Friday in a conciliatory gesture toward North Korea, though the North suggested the step isn't enough to convince it to return to talks. In a statement ca...