NORTH KOREA FIRES MULTIPLE BALLISTIC MISSILES OFF EAST COAST

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles off its east coast on Monday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The military said it detected the launches from the Pyongyang area towards the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, at around 09:20 local time. Seoul said it had increased surveillance and vigilance against possible further launches. Japan's defence ministry separately confirmed at least one suspected ballistic missile launch. One outlet reported the projectile as unidentified rather than confirmed as ballistic, citing a brief statement from the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The launch follows weeks of rising tension between the two Koreas after three South Korean soldiers were injured last month when two landmines exploded in the Seoul-controlled area of the Demilitarised Zone. A joint investigation by Seoul and the United Nations concluded that North Korea had planted the landmines more than a year earlier, a claim Pyongyang has denied. Kim Yo Jong, identified as the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said a missile launched by North Korea on 3 October was capable of changing its flight orbit at low altitude and incorporated artificial intelligence. South Korea said days later that it had tested a domestically produced hypersonic glide vehicle, a weapon carried into the upper atmosphere by rocket boosters or ballistic missiles before gliding towards its target.

South Korea's presidential office described the hypersonic glide vehicle as offering what it called a new deterrence capability for striking key targets within the Korean Peninsula's operational environment. The exchange of weapons tests comes amid continued friction along the heavily fortified border dividing the two countries. South Korea's military said it would maintain heightened monitoring of North Korean activity in the region. No further details on the number or type of missiles fired on Monday were given in the initial statement.