DPRK fires barrage of ballistic missiles amid US-ROK drills: Seoul

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday launched more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea amid ongoing joint exercises by the ​United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK).

The ROK's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launch at around 5 p.m. local time, with the missiles fired toward the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The Japanese prime minister's office also confirmed the launch, while Kyodo News reported that the projectiles fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

The ROK's presidential office condemned the DPRK's launch as "a grave ​act that violates UN Security Council resolutions," urging the DPRK to immediately halt such actions.

It also ordered its military to maintain full readiness.

The launch came eight days after Pyongyang fired a short-range ballistic missile, and marked its third missile test this month following another launch on August 6.

It also followed Pyongyang's strong opposition to the US-ROK joint exercises, with the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Wednesday accusing the drills of "pushing again the tensions on the Korean Peninsula to the threshold of a war." "All the elements of the war drill have been developing into extremely dangerous ones," with its mission, form, scale and training methods evolving every time, it said.

The US-ROK drills are due to conclude on Friday, several days earlier than originally scheduled, after US President Donald Trump ordered a substantial reduction in US participation and said he wanted to revive diplomacy with the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un.

Trump is reportedly pushing his aides to arrange a meeting with Kim as early as this fall, raising the possibility of renewed high-level engagement despite continued tensions on the Korean Peninsula.