North Korea just fired two missiles in three hours and diplomacy with Trump is fading

So why does this matter?

Because this is the second confirmed North Korean missile test in just over a week.

Nine days ago, North Korea fired missiles about 250km from that same Wonsan area. South Korea's read at the time was that North Korea is testing how well it can overwhelm allied air defences.

Two days before this launch, North Korea rejected a resolution from the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, telling it to halt its nuclear programme. North Korea said no.

And the timing here says something too.

Last month, Donald Trump scaled back the Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise with South Korea. That was read as an attempt to restart talks with Kim Jong Un. Trump has said he expects to meet Kim this year.

Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, had already answered that gesture. Two days before this test, she says quote "shortening the drill wouldn't change its provocative, aggressive nature".

So Kim's own sister rejected the olive branch before either missile left the ground.

There's more. North Korea had already condemned a separate US-led naval exercise, Pacific Vanguard, which ran from 29 August to 10 September and involved the US, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

And South Korea's government is getting pressure at home too. Opposition lawmaker Choi Bo-yun says the government's approach to North Korea has been too soft.

Here's what we don't know. Why two missiles, three hours apart, instead of one. Whether more launches are coming. And whether Trump's attempt to restart talks with Kim Jong Un can survive this test run.

North Korea hasn't said anything publicly about either missile since they were fired.

South Korea's National Security Council held an emergency meeting over the launches and called on North Korea to stop immediately, calling them a breach of UN Security Council resolutions.