North Korea launched several ballistic missiles off its east coast on Monday, according to South Korea's military, in a firing that the Joint Chiefs of Staff said came from the Pyongyang area. The South Korean military said the missiles flew toward the East Sea, and Japan's defence ministry independently confirmed at least one suspected ballistic missile launch.

Several missiles detected from Pyongyang area

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff reported the launches on Monday local time.

• •South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military detected at around 09:20 (00:20 GMT) several ballistic missiles launched from the Pyongyang area toward the East Sea (Sea of Japan).
• •Japan's defence ministry separately confirmed the launch of at least one suspected ballistic missile.

South Korea's military said it detected the multiple launches from the Pyongyang area, a detail it gave in its initial reporting on the event.

Seoul steps up monitoring

South Korea's military said it has stepped up surveillance and vigilance against possible additional launches, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Launch follows weeks of inter-Korean friction

The Monday launch comes after a stretch of deteriorating relations between Seoul and Pyongyang, marked by an explosion in the Demilitarised Zone and an exchange of statements between the two capitals.

• •Three South Korean soldiers were injured last month when two landmines detonated in the Seoul-controlled area of the Demilitarised Zone, in an incident dated September 21.
• •A joint Seoul-UN investigation concluded that North Korea had planted the landmines over a year ago; Pyongyang denied this.
• •Since the incident, Seoul has demanded an apology, which Kim Yo Jong called despicable, and she rejected a planned transfer of medical equipment from Seoul.
• •North Korea also launched a ballistic missile it says incorporated artificial intelligence, with Kim Yo Jong saying the October 3 launch featured a missile capable of changing its flight orbit at low altitude.
• •Days before the Monday launch, Seoul announced it had tested its first domestically produced hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV), which the presidential office described as a new deterrence capability capable of striking key targets within the Korean Peninsula's operational environment.

Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, addressed the state of relations in a Thursday statement.

The two Koreas remain technically at war since the Korean conflict ended in 1953 with a truce rather than a peace treaty, and the Demilitarised Zone between them is one of the world's most heavily fortified frontiers.

South Korea's military said it has stepped up surveillance and vigilance against possible additional launches.