North Korea fires several ballistic missiles toward sea

SEOUL: North Korea fired several ballistic missiles from the Wonsan area toward the sea off its east coast, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Saturday (Sep 12).

The JCS said in a statement that it has stepped up surveillance and vigilance for possible additional launches, while South Korea, the United States and Japan were closely sharing information on the missiles and maintaining a readiness posture.

It did not provide details of the missiles.

The report came a day after South Korea concluded five days of joint maritime drills with the United States and Japan that were focused on North Korea.

Late last month, North Korea slammed plans for the so-called Freedom Edge exercises in international waters off South Korea as a "threat" to Pyongyang and other countries of the region.

In its last projectile test, the North fired a barrage of missiles into the sea on Aug 20, despite an overture from US President Donald Trump, who said he planned to meet this year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

That launch from the nuclear-armed North came as South Korea and the US held a shorter edition of their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises, following an order from Trump to scale them back.

Trump's order alarmed US allies in the region, with the president calling the drills "inappropriate and hostile" towards North Korea.

Pyongyang has long condemned US-South Korea joint exercises as rehearsals for invasion, often staging missile launches around the drills.

Trump, seeking to revive the bond he claims to have forged with Kim in his first term, told reporters at the White House on Aug 19 he plans to meet the North Korean leader this year.

The US president also said it was important to "get along" with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons.

It was unusual for a US official to state a specific number on a classified issue. Seoul says the North has around 80-120 nuclear weapons.

Hours after Trump's remarks, North Korea fired more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles from the Pyongyang area towards the Sea of Japan, South Korea's military said.

Hours after the launches, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, said Trump's decision to scale back the drills with South Korea was Seoul's punishment.

She called it in a statement "an evident disaster brought by the unrealistic and anachronistic security outlook" pursued by Seoul, arguing the South had a "master-and-servant" relationship with the US.