North Korea missile lands off South Korean coast for first time, prompting air raid warnings - Reuters

SEOUL, Nov 2 (Reuters) - A North Korean ballistic rocket landed little than 60 kilometres disconnected South Korea's seashore connected Wednesday, the archetypal clip an evident trial had landed adjacent the South's waters, starring to aerial raid warnings, officials said.

The rocket was 1 of 3 short-range ballistic missiles fired from the North Korean coastal country of Wonsan into the sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The JCS said astatine slightest 1 of the missiles landed 26 kilometres southbound of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed inter-Korean maritime border. The rocket landed 57 kilometres from the South Korean metropolis of Sokcho, connected the eastbound coast, and 167 kilometres from Ulleung, wherever aerial raid warnings were issued.

"We heard the siren astatine astir 8:55 americium and each of america successful the gathering went down to the evacuation spot successful the basement," an Ulleung region authoritative told Reuters. "We stayed determination until we came upstairs astatine astir 9:15 aft proceeding that the projectile fell into the precocious seas."

A nonmigratory connected the confederate portion of the land said they received nary warnings.

The launches came conscionable hours aft Pyongyang demanded that the United States and South Korea halt large-scale subject exercises, saying specified "military rashness and provocation tin beryllium nary longer tolerated."

A spokesperson for the South Korean subject said authorities were analysing the launches to spot whether the missiles' formation paths were intentional oregon whether 1 had gone disconnected course.

It was the archetypal clip a North Korean ballistic rocket had landed adjacent South Korean waters, JCS said.

"Our subject tin ne'er tolerate this benignant of North Korea's provocative act, and volition strictly and firmly respond nether adjacent South Korea-U.S. cooperation," JCS said successful a quality release.

"For North Korea to trial missiles successful S oregon SE absorption into East Sea and towards South Korean territory is highly antithetic and peculiarly provocative," Joseph Dempsey, a defence researcher astatine the International Institute for Strategic Studies, wrote successful a station online.

On Monday United States and South Korea began Vigilant Storm, 1 of their largest combined subject aerial drills, with hundreds of warplanes from some sides staging mock attacks 24 hours a day. work much

North Korea has test-fired a grounds fig of missiles this year, and has said that a caller flurry of launches were successful effect to the allied drills.

Japan defence curate Yasukazu Hamada said the authorities believed astatine slightest 2 ballistic missiles had been launched from North Korea, 1 flying eastbound and different southeast.

"North Korea has been repeatedly launching missiles astatine an unprecedented rate, successful caller ways that we person not seen before," Hamada said to reporters successful Tokyo connected Wednesday morning.

"These actions endanger the bid and stableness of Japan, the wider region, arsenic good arsenic the broader planetary community, and are utterly unacceptable," helium added.

Japan has lodged a ailment and protested the actions via diplomatic channels successful Beijing, helium said.

Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi, Choonsik Yoo and Josh Smith; Additional reportng by David Brunnstrom successful Washington and Sakura Murakami successful Tokyo; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Gerry Doyle

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