North Korea fired two mid-range missiles into the water between Japan and South Korea on Tuesday just as United States President Barack Obama sat down with the leaders of those two nations to discuss increased military cooperation.

The Rodong missiles can travel far enough to hit nearly anywhere in Japan and are believed to be among North Korea's most dangerous weapons. This marks the first time since 2009 that the nation has fired Rodong missiles. North Korea also tested a nuclear weapon that year just as it did in 2006, another year when it fired Rodong missiles in a presumed show of strength. The country's military has launched a series of short-range missiles since late February.

As those projectiles flew into the sea, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was sitting down with South Korean President Park Geun-hye for the first meeting between the two. Obama joined them in the Hague in the Netherlands, where they discussed presenting a united military front toward China and North Korea in closed talks that took place outside the nuclear security summit taking place there.

The U.S. hopes the meeting between Abe and Geun-hye will spark better relations between their respective nations, which remain strained due in part to Japan's rule over South Korea from 1910 to 1945 and South Korean worries that Abe would rather gloss over that period in history than apologize for it, according to Reuters.

Washington believes a more united front will better allow the three countries to put pressure on North Korean weapons programs and what they perceive to be Chinese territorial aggression in the South China Sea and East China Sea.

Obama will likely continue this thread of conversation when he travels to Japan and South Korea in April.

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