North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea on Thursday, signalling its anger over planned US-South Korea joint military exercises.
It was the North’s first missile test since an impromptu meeting between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last month that produced an agreement to resume a working-level denuclearisation dialogue.
But those talks have yet to begin, and Pyongyang warned recently they could be derailed by Washington and Seoul’s refusal to scrap military exercises scheduled for next month.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the two missiles were launched just after dawn from Wonsan on the east coast and flew more than 430 kilometres (270 miles) before falling into the sea.
“Our military is closely monitoring the situation in case of additional launches and maintaining a readiness posture,” it said.
“We urge the North to stop actions that do not help ease military tensions,” said Choi Hyun-soo, a defence ministry spokeswoman for South Korea.
Japan’s defence minister called the launches “extremely regrettable” but stressed that the missiles had fallen short of his country’s exclusive economic zone.