North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Sunday, a move analysts said underscored its leader Kim Jong-un's unease after the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a surprise overnight military operation.

Pyongyang's military provocation also appeared to be timed before a South Korea-China leaders' summit set for Monday, at which North Korea was expected to be on the agenda as Seoul presses Beijing to play a more active role in denuclearization efforts.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were launched from an area near Pyongyang at about 7:50 a.m. and flew roughly 900 kilometers before landing in the East Sea. The military said it was maintaining a heightened state of readiness.

The launches marked North Korea's first missile provocation of the year. Its most recent test occurred on Nov. 7, when it fired a short-range ballistic missile into the East Sea.

Analysts said the timing appeared carefully calculated, coming a day after the Donald Trump administration launched a surprise military operation in Venezuela.

The operation, which took place late Friday (local time), resulted in the capture of Maduro and his wife, who were transported to New York where they will be put on trial for drug trafficking, according to U.S. authorities. Trump said Washington would temporarily run the Latin American nation.

Leif-Eric Easley, a professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University, suggested that the Venezuela episode has unsettled the North Korean leader.

"Leaders of hostile regimes will probably live with greater paranoia after seeing how quickly Maduro was extracted from his country to stand trial in the United States," he said.

The Trump administration's operation in Venezuela may further entrench Kim's assumption that abandoning nuclear weapons could lead to a fate similar to Maduro's.

"Maduro's capture will likely reinforce Kim Jong-un's belief that giving up nuclear weapons amounts to an act of suicide. This will make negotiations over denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula even more difficult," said Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies.

He added that this could also make North Korea's behavior more unpredictable, as the regime may further accelerate the large-scale development and deployment of tactical nuclear weapons and guided missiles.

Observers also linked Pyongyang's response to its long-standing ties with Venezuela, a country it has viewed as a friendly state. North Korea and Venezuela established diplomatic relations in 1974. Their relationship has deepened over the course of the Kim Jong-un regime, during which North Korea opened its embassy in Caracas in 2015 and Venezuela established an embassy in Pyongyang in 2019.

From Kim's perspective, the latest episode represents yet another precedent for a foreign leader being removed by the U.S., following the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Gaddafi in Libya.

The latest missile launches appear intended to underscore North Korea's self-proclaimed status as a "nuclear-armed state," reflecting Pyongyang's concern that Washington could pursue a similar approach toward the North if nuclear negotiations were to collapse.

The missile launches came just hours before President Lee Jae Myung landed in Beijing for talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, scheduled for Monday.

The provocation may be interpreted as a signal of protest directed at Beijing, Pyongyang's traditional backer, as North Korea may be included on the Lee-Xi summit agenda as Seoul seeks stronger Chinese engagement in denuclearization efforts.

Hours after the launches, South Korea's National Security Office convened an emergency meeting attended by senior foreign affairs and military officials. The office condemned the missile tests as a provocative act that violates U.N. Security Council resolutions and urged Pyongyang to immediately halt such actions.

N. Korea fires ballistic missiles as US capture of Maduro unnerves Kim Jong-un - The Korea Times