North Korea fires two missile into the sea off its east coast

North Korea has fired two ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, according to the South Korean military, after protesting joint military drills by the United States and South Korea.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) said the missiles were fired from North Korea’s Hwanghae province shortly before 8am local time on Monday (23:00 GMT Sunday).

The JSC condemned the launches as a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and said it would continue military drills as planned.

“We will keep a close eye on North Korea’s various activities and maintain firm readiness posture based on the capability to overwhelmingly respond to any provocations,” the JCS said in a statement.

The Japanese government said the projectiles are believed to have fallen outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

It also lodged a “strong protest” with North Korea, saying the neighbouring country’s missile launches threaten the safety and peace of Japan, the region and the international community.

The launches were North Korea’s seventh missile event this month and underscore heightening military tensions in the region as the pace of both Pyongyang’s weapons tests and the US-South Korea joint military exercises has accelerated in recent months in a cycle of tit-for-tat responses.

The allies completed their most extensive springtime exercises in years last week, but North Korea is expected to further step up its testing activity as the US moves an aircraft carrier group to the peninsula this week for another round of joint drills.