The missiles all fell within 250 kilometers of Japan's Okushiri Island, the country's Defense Ministry said in a statement.
North Korea has also ramped up missile tests as negotiations between South Korea and the US to
deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system (THAAD) have progressed. South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo said last month that
THAAD is expected to be fully deployed by the end of 2017.
The simplest way to bypass a missile defense system is to just launch more missiles than it can effectively intercept, says Jeffrey Lewis, director of the US-based
East Asia Nonproliferation Program.
"Launching them simultaneously is more difficult for a missile defense system," he says. Monday's test involved three missiles, compared to just
one test-fired on Kim Jong Un's birthday in April. If those missiles are equipped with nuclear warheads "they don't have to get too many up in the air and past the missile defense system to have an effect," Lewis says.
THAAD beater
Lewis pointed to another way North Korea can potentially bypass THAAD's defenses: via a submarine-launched ballistic missile.
Pyongyang appears to have
successfully tested such a missile last month, much to the jubilation of Kim, as seen in photos released by North Korean state media.
"THAAD has a forward-looking radar with a 120-degree field of view," Lewis wrote in a recent
report for Arms Control Wonk. That means "North Korea's submarines would not have to travel very far out to sea to attack the THAAD system from behind."
The missile could also be mounted on a truck and deployed on land, in the manner of the Chinese DF-21, which forms a major part of that country's nuclear arsenal, Lewis says.
Firing a missile nearly straight up, whether from submarine or land, would also increase its effectiveness against THAAD.
According to a report (pdf) by the US Defense Technical Information Center, THAAD tests show it achieved its lowest possible rating against intermediate-range missiles of the type Pyongyang appears to have been developing.
"THAAD might be able to handle the KN-11, but it is distressing that North Korea can already present a threat that stresses defenses not yet deployed," Lewis writes.
Recent tests show "may be a signal that Kim Jong Un is seeking to diversify his deterrents in a way to create some strategic ambiguity," says Alex Neill, a senior fellow at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies Asia.
Nuclear threat
While any missile that passes Seoul's defenses would be potentially devastating for those in its path, the true threat posed by North Korea to its neighbors comes from its purported ability to equip such weapons with nuclear warheads.
Pyongyang claimed in March that it has
successfully miniaturized nuclear warheads, a crucial step to their mounting on an intermediate or long range missile. US officials said it was "
prudent" to take North Korea's word regarding this development.
"The North's nuclear capability has quite consistently been underestimated," says Neill, adding that it is safe to assume Pyongyang would want to add nuclear-capabilities to any new parts of its arsenal.
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