North Korea fires ballistic missiles as US-South Korea hold military drills 

North Korea has fired multiple ballistic missiles from its west coast as the United States and South Korean forces stage their annual military exercises, according to Japanese and South Korean defence forces.

Japan’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that the missiles were fired at about 1:34pm local time (04:34 GMT) in a northeastern direction, according to a statement posted on X.

Japan estimates that the missiles reached a maximum altitude of 80 kilometres (50 miles) and flew approximately 340 kilometres before landing near the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, outside Tokyo’s exclusive economic zone.

Early reports indicate that no damage has been reported by nearby aircraft or ships, the post said.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff separately confirmed that Pyongyang had fired approximately 10 ballistic missiles towards the East Sea, which is also known as the Sea of Japan, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The JCS said the incident marks the third time North Korea has fired ballistic missiles since the start of the year.

South Korean, Japanese and US forces remain in a “heightened surveillance posture against additional launches,” the South Korean news agency said.

Pyongyang often fires missiles and other projectiles to signal anger at its neighbours.

The launches on Saturday come as the world is focused on the war ignited in the Middle East by the US-Israel attacks on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory strikes across the region.

The North earlier this week protested the start of the 10-day Freedom Shield exercises, which involve thousands of troops from South Korea and the US and run until March 19.

Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, accused Seoul and Washington of “destroying the stability” of the Korean Peninsula and “muscle flexing” near its border with their display of military power.

Earlier this week, North Korea also fired cruise missiles from a new naval destroyer.

The latest ballistic missile launches follow renewed speculation that US President Donald Trump may seek a meeting with Kim. The two leaders held summits during Trump’s first term in office – though high on spectacle, they yielded no substantive progress. They met three times. Their last meeting was in 2019, when the two leaders visited the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean Peninsula.

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok said on Friday that Trump “remained positive about the resumption of dialogue” with the North on the sidelines of a meeting between the two leaders in Washington, according to Yonhap.

“He said, ‘Meeting [Kim] is something good. But it could come during the period of my visit to China. It may not happen [during the visit] or could take place afterward,'” the prime minister told reporters, according to Yonhap.