South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says that North Korea launched “several” short-range missiles off its eastern coast.
The military said in a statement Saturday that the missiles flew up to 200 kilometers (125 miles) before they landed in the water.
The South had previously said the North launched a single missile.
South Korea says it’s “very concerned” about North Korea’s weapons launches, calling them a violation of last year’s inter-Korean agreements to reduce tensions between the countries.
The South Korean government says it urges North Korea to stop committing acts that would raise military tensions and join efforts to resume nuclear negotiations.
South Korea says it’s working with the United States to find out details of the launches such as what type of projectiles North Korea fired earlier Saturday.
The South Korean statement came after a meeting of the presidential national security adviser, the defense minister, the intelligence chief and other officials following the North Korean launches at the presidential Blue House.
The United States and South Korea are analyzing North Korea’s short-range missile launches while “carefully responding” to Pyongyang’s action.
That’s according to South Korean Foreign Ministry statement following telephone talks between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterpart in Seoul.
Later Saturday, South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha also talked by phone with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and they agreed to keep coordinating while also “carefully responding” to the launches.
Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have held telephone talks.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry says Kono, who is currently visiting Angola, and Pompeo talked for about 10 minutes Saturday and confirmed the two sides will share information on the development and stay in close contact.
The two ministers also agreed to cooperate with South Korea.
Japan’s Defense Ministry says the projectiles weren’t a security threat and didn’t reach anywhere near the country’s coast.
Japan will likely avoid any harsh response as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to secure his own summit with Kim Jong Un.