North Korea fires ballistic missiles, South Korea says

North Korea fired one short-range ballistic missile and another ballistic missile on Monday, South Korea’s military said.

The first short-range ballistic missile was fired to the northeast around 5.05am from near Changyon, South Hwanghae Province in North Korea. Another unknown ballistic missile was detected around 5.15am from the same area, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The first missile flew about 600km (373 miles). The second flew about 120km, with South Korea and the United States analysing the launch, it added.

“We strongly condemn North Korea’s missile launch as a provocation that seriously threatens peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, adding it shared information on the missiles with US and Japanese authorities.

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“The South Korean military will maintain its capacity and posture to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation while closely monitoring North Korea’s various activities under a strong South Korea-US joint defence posture.”

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in years, with the North ramping up weapons testing while bombarding the South with balloons full of trash.

Pyongyang says those missives are in retaliation for balloons loaded with anti-regime propaganda leaflets sent northwards by activists in the South.

In response to the North’s repeated launches, South Korea has fully suspended a tension-reducing military treaty. It also resumed propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts and live-fire drills near the border.

South Korea also has grown anxious over the North’s warming relations with its isolated neighbour Russia.

North Korea is accused of