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By Kim Seung-yeon

SEOUL, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, despite a recent olive branch offered by U.S. President Donald Trump who signaled a willingness to reengage with the North's leader Kim Jong-un.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected roughly a dozen short-range ballistic missiles launched from the Pyongyang area at around 5 p.m., adding that further analysis is under way in cooperation with the United States.

The military has stepped up surveillance and vigilance for possible additional launches while closely sharing related information with the U.S. and Japan as they maintain a full readiness posture, the JCS said.

"Under a staunch South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture, our military is closely monitoring various North Korean activities as we maintain the capability and readiness to overwhelmingly respond to any provocation," it added.

The latest missile launch came after Trump expressed his willingness to resume dialogue with Kim, whom he met three times during his first term in 2018 and 2019, when a flurry of nuclear diplomacy with Pyongyang was in full swing.

Nuclear talks have been dormant after their 2019 meeting in Hanoi ended without a deal.

Trump floated an overture on a social media post earlier this week, stating he had instructed the Pentagon to scale down military drills with South Korea that he sees can send an "inappropriate and hostile" message to Pyongyang.

Seoul and Washington announced Wednesday they will cut short the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise by half, ending the annual drills this Friday.

Pyongyang has strongly denounced the drills as rehearsals for invasion and typically responded with a series of weapons tests in protest.

In a White House press availability Wednesday (U.S. time), Trump said he would meet Kim later this year, claiming that the recalcitrant state possesses "57 very powerful" nuclear weapons, a specific figure he has cited for the first time regarding the North's nuclear stockpile.

Despite Trump's olive branch, the North appears to have given Washington the cold shoulder. Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North's leader, said in a statement late Wednesday that Pyongyang has no interest in the reduction of the allies' military exercise, calling it "unworthy of comment."

Following the launch, the presidential national security office said it convened a meeting attended by officials from the defense ministry and JCS to review South Korea's response and assess the move's impact on national security.

"With the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise currently under way, the office stressed the need to maintain a thorough readiness posture," it said, urging Pyongyang to halt such provocations in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The latest missile launch took place about a week after Pyongyang fired a short-range ballistic missile eastward on Aug. 12, following the launch of another short-range ballistic missile on Aug. 6.

elly@yna.co.kr

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