What Happened: North Korea launched two short-range missiles off of its east coast, which traveled roughly 400 kilometers east before splashing down in the East Sea just outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone, Reuters reported Jan. 14.

Why It Matters: Pyongyang continues to assert its right to test missiles for self-defense purposes despite international protests and sanctions. North Korea is extremely unlikely to use these weapons offensively, but the country is equally unlikely to be deterred from its program by future sanctions, which makes additional backlash from the United States, South Korea or Japan likely. Despite the timing of these tests, it is unlikely that they are related to recent U.S. sanctions since they were likely prepared ahead of time.

Background: On Jan. 13, the U.S. Biden administration called for sanctions on five North Korean officials in China and Russia in response to North Korean missile tests on Jan. 11 and 5