North Korea fires multiple short-range ballistic missiles

North Korea has fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles towards its east coast, South Korea and Japan said, in the second such test in a week.

The missiles were launched from Kaechon, north of the capital Pyongyang, at about 6.50 am on Wednesday (21:50 GMT on Tuesday) and flew about 400km (249 miles) towards the northeast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, without specifying how many were fired or where they landed, Al Jazeera reported.

Japan also confirmed the launch with the coastguard saying North Korea fired at least two ballistic missiles.

Pyongyang fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles last Thursday, the first such launch in more than two months, which it later said was a test of a new 600mm multiple-launch rocket system.