North Korea Launches Two Ballistic Missiles After US-Japan-South Korea Joint Military Exercise District

Illustration of North Korean missile launch. (Source: KCNA)

JAKARTA - North Korea launched two ballistic missiles on Monday, after a day earlier criticizing a joint military exercise that South Korea had followed the day before.

Seoul's military said North Korea fired one short-range ballistic missile and another ballistic missile.

The first ballistic missile was fired northeast at around 5:05 a.m. local time from near Changyon, South Korea's Hwanghae Province. Another unidentified ballistic missile was detected around 5:15 a.m. from the same area, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The first missile flew about 600 km (373 miles). The second flies about 120 km, with South Korea and the United States analyzing its launch, he 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 they shared information about the missile with US and Japanese authorities.

"The South Korean military will maintain its capacity and posture to respond to any extraordinary provocation while closely monitoring various North Korean activities under the strong joint defense posture of South Korea-US," he continued.

Earlier, North Korea on Sunday condemned joint military exercises by South Korea, Japan, and the United States which were held last week, warning of an "extraordinary response" to such exercises.

State media Pyongyang reported that the exercise was criticized by saying such a thing shows relations between the three countries have grown to "NATO the Asian version".

Last Thursday, the three countries began a large-scale joint military exercise called the "Freedom Edge" involving naval destroyers, fighter jets and US nuclear-powered aircraft carriers Theodore Roosevelt, aiming to increase defense against missiles, submarines, and airstrikes.

North Korea itself last week said it had successfully carried out an important test aimed at developing missiles carrying several warheads, a claim South Korea rejected as a "fraud" to cover the failed launch.