North Korea fires ballistic missiles as South and US begin drills

North Korea fired several ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday, South Korea’s military said, hours after Seoul and Washington resumed a major annual military drill known as “Freedom Shield.”

North Korea has long viewed the exercise as a provocation.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile firings were detected from North Korea’s Hwanghae province, making them the North’s fifth missile launch event this year.

Earlier on Monday, South Korea and the US began their joint military exercises which are set to last 11 days. The “Freedom Shield” exercise will include “live, virtual, and field-based training” according to the US government.

North Korea issued a statement in response to the start of the drills, calling the exercises a “dangerous provocative act,” that increases the risk of military conflict.

Last week, Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned against further “provocations” after a US aircraft carrier docked in the South Korean port of Busan.

The drills were briefly paused after two South Korean KF-16 fighter jets mistakenly bombed a civilian area in Pocheon, near the North Korean border last Thursday.

Thirty people were injured in the incident, which the South Korean air force attributed to human error after one of the pilots entered the wrong coordinates for a bombing site.

Both South Korean and US militaries halted all live-fire exercises in South Korea following the mishap.

South Korean officials have said that live-fire training will resume after an ongoing investigation into the incident is completed.