SEOUL – North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Thursday, the South Korean military said.
The missiles were launched less than an hour after North Korea warned of an inevitable response to live fire drills carried out by South Korea together with the United States.
The latest action by Pyongyang came as US President Joe Bidens national security adviser Jake Sullivan was in Tokyo for meetings with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts.
At the meeting with South Koreas national security adviser Cho Tae-yong and Japans National Security Advisor Takeo Akiba on Thursday, the three discussed North Koreas missile programme.
The three advisers confirmed they would work closely together to get Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons, according to a readout of the meeting released by Japan.
The Japanese defence ministry said the two ballistic missiles landed within the countrys exclusive economic zone, possibly having flown in an irregular trajectory.
One landed in the Sea of Japan which is also known as the East Sea about 110km north-west of Hegura island, part of Ishikawa prefecture.
The other landed about 250km away, the Japanese authorities said.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol watched as several thousand South Korean and US troops took part in joint live-fire exercises on Thursday.
The drills were a show of force after North Koreas failed attempt to launch a spy satellite last month heightened tensions in the region.
A spokesman for North Koreas Ministry of National Defence said the drills were escalating the military tension in the region and its forces would sternly respond to any kind of protests or provocations by enemies.
Pyongyang unsuccessfully tried to launch a spy satellite late last month, in its first such attempt since 2016, with the rocket booster and payload plunging into the sea.
North Koreas ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions that have sanctioned the country.
Diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions or persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear arsenal have been stalled.
South Korea sued North Korea on Wednesday for US$35 million (S$47 million) in compensation for a liaison office that North Korea blew up in 2020, in a case highlighting the breakdown of ties between the neighbours as the North presses on with its weapons programmes.
Pyongyang has already fired 17 ballistic missiles so far this year, which included three intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to deliver a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.
The country fired off more than 70 ballistic missiles last year, a record for the state. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG More On This Topic Japan and South Korea to speed up talks over pending military issues North Koreas space satellite crashes into sea; alerts sent and then retracted in South Korea, Japan
