North Korea Launches Ballistic Missile Amid US-South Korea Military Drills

The launch comes just days after Pyongyang fired two "strategic cruise missiles" from a submarine in waters off its east coast over the weekend in an apparent protest over the US-South Korea drills.

New Delhi: North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile on Tuesday, South Korea's military said, Pyongyang's second test since the start of the year that comes a day after Seoul and Washington kicked off their largest joint exercises in five years.

The military training comes amid growing threats from the North, which has conducted a series of banned weapons tests in recent months, the news agency AFP reported.

"North Korea fires unidentified ballistic missile towards the East Sea," the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.

The launch comes just days after Pyongyang fired two "strategic cruise missiles" from a submarine in waters off its east coast over the weekend in an apparent protest over the US-South Korea drills, according to the official KCNA news agency on Monday.

The US-South Korea exercises, called Freedom Shield, are scheduled to run for at least 10 days from Monday and will focus on the "changing security environment" due to North Korea's redoubled aggression, the allies said.

They will "involve wartime procedures to repel potential North Korean attacks and conduct a stabilisation campaign in the North", the South Korean military has said.

According to AFP, the Seoul military confirmed this month that it and Washington special forces were performing "Teak Knife" military drills ahead of Freedom Shield, which involved simulating precise strikes on key North Korean facilities.

But all such exercises infuriate North Korea, which views them as rehearsals for an invasion and has repeatedly warned it would take "overwhelming" action in response.

North Korea's foreign ministry said, "The DPRK bitterly denounces the US vicious 'human rights' racket as the most intensive expression of its hostile policy toward the DPRK and categorically rejects it," AFP reported citing KCNA.

Washington, on the other hand, has repeatedly restated its "ironclad" commitment to defending South Korea, including using the "full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear".

(With agency inputs)