North Korea Fires Around 10 Short-Range Ballistic Missiles Toward the Sea Off Its East Coast

North Korea fired around 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The launch was Pyongyang's first ballistic missile firing since October 12.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were launched at around 12:30 p.m. (0330 GMT) from an area around Wonsan, a port city on North Korea's eastern coast. South Korea's military was strengthening surveillance and maintaining readiness in case of additional launches, the statement said, while sharing information closely with the United States and Japan.

Japan tracks a fall outside its economic zone

Japan's Defence Ministry said North Korea had launched an object that could be a ballistic missile and that it fell outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, according to Yonhap News Agency. Japan's Coast Guard said earlier that the launched projectile could be a ballistic missile and had already fallen into the sea, and it urged vessels to watch for further information.

Asia Daily reported that no damage to vessels had been confirmed by 12:55 p.m., about 25 minutes after the launch time given by Seoul. Japan's government also assembled an emergency response team at the crisis management centre of the Prime Minister's Office, where officials from the relevant ministries gathered information and checked for damage.

South Korean and United States intelligence authorities were still analysing the missiles' flight distances, altitude, speed and other technical details, Asia Daily reported. North Korea did not comment on the launch in the initial wire reports, and no casualties or damage were reported by any of the three governments.

Tension after the border mine blast

North Korea last fired ballistic missiles on October 12, amid heightened tension on the inter-Korean border over a mine blast last month that wounded South Korean soldiers, Reuters reported. Pyongyang has conducted missile tests on more than 10 occasions this year.

The Wonsan area has been used for missile launches before, and Thursday's firing put a large number of missiles into the air in a single event. Military authorities in Seoul, Washington and Tokyo were still sharing tracking data on Thursday afternoon, and further technical assessments were expected to follow.