LOC09:44
06:44 GMT
TOKYO, March 10 (KUNA) -- North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the Yellow Sea on Monday, South Korea's military said, as Seoul and Washington launched their annual military drills, Yonhap News Agency reported.
It marked the North's first known ballistic missile test since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the inner land of the North's Hwanghae Province at around 1:50 p.m. (0450 GMT) but did not provide further details. The JCS said it has bolstered surveillance and maintained a full readiness posture under close cooperation with the US.
South Korea and the US launched their annual exercise on Monday for an 11-day run.
"The ironclad commitment to the ROK is as strong as ever. We are fully in Freedom Shield 2025. What we are doing right now is building our readiness, capabilities to defend the ROK (South Korea) against any threat," the US Forces Korea, said last week.
The North released back-to-back statements denouncing the latest joint drills, threatening that Seoul and Washington will pay a "horrible" price for their "dangerous provocative act."
"This is a dangerous provocative act of leading the acute situation on the Korean peninsula, which may spark off a physical conflict between the two sides by means of an accidental single shot, to the extreme point," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement dated Sunday. (end)
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