North Korea fires missiles after slamming US-South Korea drills

North Korea on Monday fired multiple ballistic missiles a few hours after condemning the South Korean and US militaries for launching drills that Pyongyang called a dangerous provocative act that risked accidentally sparking a confrontation.

According to South Korea’s military, the missiles were fired from North Korea’s western region toward the Yellow Sea.

It was gathered that the launch was the first reported ballistic missile test since the second coming of US President Donald Trump in January.

The missiles were believed to be close range ballistic missiles, a South Korean defence ministry official said, referring to a type of weapon with a range of under 300 km (186 miles).

DAILY POST reports that the allies’ annual Freedom Shield drills are scheduled to run until March 20, although live-fire exercises remain suspended after South Korean jets mistakenly dropped bombs on a civilian town near the border last week, injuring 29.

North Korea has reportedly typically demanded US-South Korea joint exercises to be halted, branding them a prelude to an invasion.

However, the South Korean military has said the joint drills aim to strengthen the readiness of the alliance to face threats such as North Korea.

“This is a dangerous provocative act of leading the acute situation on the Korean peninsula, which may spark off a physical conflict between the two sides by means of an accidental single shot, to the extreme point. The drills would harm U.S. security,” North Korea’s foreign ministry said.

Chief of South Korea’s Air Force, Lee Young-su bowed in apology on Monday over the unprecedented accident last week in which two jets mistakenly bombed the South Korean village.