NORTH KOREA fired several ballistic missiles into the sea today, South Korea’s military said.

This came hours after South Korean and United States troops kicked off their large annual combined drills, which the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the missile firings, North Korea’s fifth missile launch event this year, were detected from the North’s south-western Hwanghae province but gave no further details such as how far they flew. 

It said South Korea bolstered its surveillance posture and is closely co-ordinating with the US.

Earlier today, the South Korean and US militaries began their annual war games called Freedom Shield. 

North Korea’s foreign ministry warned that the latest war games risked triggering “physical conflict” on the Korean peninsula. 

It called the exercises an “aggressive and confrontational war rehearsal” and reiterated leader Kim Jong Un’s stated goals for a “radical growth” of his nuclear force to counter what he regards as growing threats posed by the US and its allies.