North Korea fires rockets into sea

Such short-range rocket tests are usually considered routine, as opposed to long-range rocket or nuclear tests, which are internationally condemned as provocations.

Pyongyang has conducted a string of similar short-range launches recently coinciding with the annual military drills, which it claims are invasion preparation.

South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok says the type of rockets launched yesterday off the country’s east coast is not yet clear.

Earlier this month, Seoul said a North Korean artillery launch happened minutes before a Chinese commercial plane reportedly carrying 202 people flew in the same area.