Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the launch of “several short-range ballistic missiles” at around 7:30 am Tuesday (2230 GMT) into waters east of the Korean peninsula. The missiles flew approximately 400 kilometers (248 miles) and Seoul’s military said it had tracked the launch in real time while sharing information with Tokyo and Washington.

Tokyo also confirmed Pyongyang’s latest weapons test, with top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi saying that the North’s “repeated launches of ballistic missiles, threaten the peace and security of our country”.

On Sunday, South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted a joint air drill involving a US B-1B bomber, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, and Japanese F-2 jets, in response to the ICBM [1] launch. Such joint drills infuriate Pyongyang, which views them as rehearsals for invasion.

[1] Last week North Korea test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile.

Pyongyang’s latest launch was “a direct response to the trilateral aerial exercises over the weekend”, Han Kwon-hee of the Korea Association of Defence Industry Studies told AFP. “Given it was a salvo of short-range missiles, the North is indicating that it not only has long-range missiles capable of reaching the US, but also short-range ones to target all bases in South Korea and Japan,” Han added.

On Monday, Robert Wood, US deputy ambassador to the UN, slammed the North’s advancing ballistic missile programme and said Russia and China were preventing the UN from holding Pyongyang to account. Beijing and Moscow “have repeatedly shielded the DPRK, contributing to the normalisation of these tests and emboldening the DPRK to further violate this Council’s sanctions and resolutions,” he said, referring to the North by its official name.