NORTH KOREA fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters today morning, its neighbours said, days after the end of the South Korean-US war games.

The launches came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Seoul for a democracy summit. 

Japan’s Defence Ministry said North Korea fired three missiles.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a parliamentary session that the North Korean missiles had landed in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, all outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone, and that no damage or injuries have been reported.

Mr Kishida denounced North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile tests as acts “that threaten the peace and safety of Japan, the region and the international society.”

He said Japan strongly protested against North Korea over its testing activities, saying they violated United Nations security council resolutions that ban the North from engaging in any ballistic activities.

South Korea’s military said it also detected “several” suspected short-range ballistic launches by North Korea today morning. 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff called the launches “clear provocation” that threaten peace on the Korean Peninsula. It said South Korea will maintain readiness to repel any provocation by North Korea, based on its solid military alliance with the US.

The US State Department condemned the launches, saying they pose a threat to the North’s neighbours and undermine regional security. 

The US stations around 80,000 troops in South Korea and Japan, the backbone of its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

The recent 11-day joint South Korean-US war games reportedly involved 48 kinds of field exercises, twice the number conducted last year.

The US and South Korean forces have also recently ramped up their military exercises in recent times to involve the Japanese. 

Before today’s launches, North Korea last carried out missile tests in mid-February by firing cruise missiles into the sea.