North Korea launches short range missiles towards the east

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea fired a short-range missile towards the east today. Photo / AP

North Korea on Saturday fired a series of short-range missiles from its eastern coast, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, a likely sign of Pyongyang's growing frustration at stalled diplomatic talks with Washington over its nuclear arsenal.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea launched "several" short-range missiles off its eastern coast.

The military said in a statement on Saturday that the missiles flew up to 200km before they landed in the water.

The South had previously said the North launched a single missile.

South Korean and US authorities are analysing the details, but if it is confirmed as a firing of banned ballistic missiles, it will be the first such launch since the North's November 2017 test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. That year saw a string of increasingly powerful weapons tests from the North, and a belligerent response from President Donald Trump that had many in the region fearing war.

Japan's Defense Ministry says North Korean missiles have not reached anywhere near the country's coast and that Japan is not facing any security threat.

The ministry says it has not detected signs that any of the missiles have reached in or around Japan's territory or its 200-nautical-mile (320km) exclusive economic zone.

It says at this point Japan does not face a situation that would pose any immediate risk to its national security.

Japan is seen as avoiding any harsh response as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe seeks to secure a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The firing Saturday comes amid a diplomatic breakdown that has followed the failed summit earlier this year between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over the North's pursuit of nuclear bombs that can accurately target the US mainland. Experts believe that the North has viable shorter range nuclear armed missiles but still needs more tests to perfect its longer-range weapons.

The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North's missile was fired from Wonsan on the nation's east coast.

During the diplomacy that followed a rocky 2017, Kim Jong Un said that the North would not test nuclear devices or ICBMs.

This short-range missile would not violate that self-imposed moratorium. It may instead be a way to register his displeasure with Washington and the state of talks meant to provide sanctions relief for disarmament without having the diplomacy collapse.

- More to come

- AP