SEOUL, Oct. 13 -- South Korea's military read it as an answer. Four days after President Lee Jae Myung watched the country's first home-built hypersonic weapon hit its target, North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area at about 9:20 a.m. on Monday, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff called it a show of force. Pyongyang, when it spoke a day later, called it routine.

Jang Do-young, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs, said the launch appeared to be a "show of force" in response to the hypersonic test, Al Jazeera reported. The missiles fell into the sea off North Korea's east coast, and some flew more than 900 kilometres.

The two accounts do not fit together. The standard line from Seoul and Washington treats North Kore...