North Korea fires ballistic missiles off eastern coast, Seoul says

South Korea said it boosted its surveillance posture and was closely exchanging information on the launches with the US and Japan.North Korea has fired Ballistic missiles towards the sea off its eastern coast, according to South Korea’s military.South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that it detected several missiles launched from North Korea’s eastern coastal area of Wonsan about 5:20am on Saturday (20:20 GMT on Friday), which flew about 250 kilometres (155 miles). It added that it is closely exchanging information on the launches with the United States and Japan.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Korea divided: A sister’s long wait and a defector’s bid to save his motherlist 2 of 4South Korea court gives church leader two years in jail for briberylist 3 of 4Putin and Zelenskyy issue threats as strikes rock Ukraine, Russialist 4 of 4South Korea mulls ‘contributions’ in Strait of Hormuzend of listSouth Korea’s presidential National Security Office said it held an emergency security meeting with the Defence Ministry, the JCS and other relevant agencies following the launch.The US Pacific Command said North Korea’s launch event does not pose an immediate threat to US territory or to its allies, adding that Washington remains committed to the defence of South Korea and its other allies in the region.The missiles were launched a day after South Korea concluded five days of joint maritime drills with the US and Japan that were focused on North Korea.Hours after the exercises began on Monday, North Korea’s defence minister, Kim Song Gi, criticised the exercise and warned North Korea was capable of taking “strong and reflective countermeasures from the standpoint of power”.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 in the region.The North also fired a barrage of missiles into the sea on August 20, despite an overture from US President Donald Trump, who said he planned to meet this year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.