North Korea launches ballistic missile towards sea: South Korean military 

North Korea has launched a salvo of ballistic missiles towards the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The JCS initially said it detected the launch of a ballistic missile towards the East Sea (which is also known as the Sea of Japan) but later reported that several short-range missiles were fired by Pyongyang at about 07:30am local time on Tuesday (22:30 GMT).

“We are maintaining full readiness while closely sharing North Korean ballistic missile data with US and Japanese authorities,” the JCS said, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

The Japanese government also confirmed the launch of a suspected ballistic missile from North Korea. Japan’s coastguard reported that a projectile had splashed down in the sea in an area that the NHK news outlet said was outside the country’s maritime exclusive economic zone.

South Korea’s Minister of National Defence Kim Yong-hyun warned recently that North Korea would likely dial up military displays around the United States presidential election – which is due to start shortly – to get the attention of Washington and “exaggerate their existence” through a display of force.

North Korea last week test-fired a huge new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) towards the sea off its eastern coastline. North Korean state news said the test launch on October 31 was of a Hwasong-19 ICBM, describing the new missile as “the world’s strongest ICBM”.

North Korea is also believed to have completed preparations for its seventh nuclear test, South Korea’s military intelligence agency said last week.

Tensions between North Korea and South Korea are at their highest point in years as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has repeatedly flaunted his expanding ballistic missile arsenal, while also reportedly sending weapons and North Korean troops to support Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.

North Korea has denied sending soldiers to fight for Russia, but North Korea’s vice foreign minister has said that any such deployment would not be against international law.

Meeting in South Korea’s capital Seoul on Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, expressed “deep concern” over the possible transfer of Russian nuclear or ballistic missile technology to North Korea in exchange for Pyongyang sending arms and soldiers to fight in Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

Such transfers would ” jeopardise the international non-proliferation efforts and threaten peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and across the globe,” Cho and Borrell said, while calling on Pyongyang and Moscow to immediately withdraw North Korean troops from Russia.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, condemned recent military drills by the United States, Japan and South Korea as threats to Pyongyang and said such actions justified North Korea’s nuclear capabilities, the official KCNA state news agency reported on Tuesday.