North Korea fires ballistic missiles as Blinken visits Seoul

SEOUL (Reuters) -- North Korea on Monday fired ballistic missiles into the sea for the first time in two months as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul for a conference hosted by President Yoon Suk Yeol.

South Korea's military said multiple short-range missiles were fired from a region south of the North's capital, Pyongyang, landing east of the Korean Peninsula. It did not provide further details and said it was sharing information on the launch with the United States and Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the launches after his country's coast guard also reported the firing of what it said appeared to be a ballistic missile.

Japan later said it had detected what appeared to be a second ballistic missile launch by the North, and that both fell outside its exclusive economic zone area.

"North Korea's series of actions threaten the peace and security of our region and the international community, and are absolutely unacceptable," Kishida said, calling the launch a violation of U.N. resolutions.

North Korea's military has been conducting exercises using conventional weapons in recent weeks, often personally overseen by the isolated state's leader, Kim Jong Un.

The show of force by Pyongyang comes just after the militaries of South Korea and the United States on Thursday finished 10 days of large-scale annual joint military drills.

On Sunday, the South Korean military mobilized marines, attack helicopters and amphibious assault vehicles in drills aimed at surging troop numbers to reinforce western islands near the sea border with North Korea. The North shelled the islands in 2010.

Blinken is among senior officials from around the world attending the Summit for Democracy conference. He will also