North Korea fires 3 short-range ballistic missiles

North Korea on Wednesday fired three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) into the East Sea, one of which flew across its de facto maritime border with South Korea for the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to the military in Seoul.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missile firing from a site in or around the North's eastern coastal city of Wonsan was detected at around 8.51 a.m., reports Yonhap News Agency.

One of the three SRBMs fell into high seas 26 km south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), an area 57 km east of the South's eastern city of Sokcho and 167 km northwest of Ulleung Island near Dokdo.

It headed toward the island before falling into the international sea, prompting local authorities to issue an air raid alert, according to the JCS.

The North also fired various types of several other missiles westward and eastward, it added.

"Our military can never tolerate North Korea's provocative act and will sternly respond to it in close cooperation with the US," the JCS said in a statement.

It criticised the North's first firing of a ballistic missile near the South's territorial waters since the division as an "intolerable" act.

The North's latest provocation came as Seoul and Washington are staging the Vigilant Storm exercise involving more than 240 aircraft, including their advanced stealth jets.

USS Key West, an American nuclear-powered submarine, also arrived in South Korea on Monday for a "scheduled visit" as part of its deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.

The North has long denounced joint military drills between Seoul and Washington as a rehearsal for invasion.