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North Korea fires possible ballistic missiles toward sea

North Korea fired 10 short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, South Korea's military said.

The North fired "around 10 short-range ballistic missiles from its Pyongyang area," an official from Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Earlier the Japanese prime minister's office and the country's Coast Guard said it detected the suspected launch.

The incident came hours after US President Donald Trump said he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un later this year.

US-South Korea military drills shortened

The news also comes as South Korea and the US continue military drills that are set to end Friday after Trump's order to significantly reduce US participation.

He described the war games as "inappropriate and hostile," on Wednesday as he announced he would meet Kim later this year,

"These exercises are not only costly, with much of these costs paid for by the United States of America (as usual!), but send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile, to a Country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been President, has been unthreatening and respectful," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of Kim Jong Un, dismissed Trump’s move, saying, "The provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won't change even though their duration and size were reduced."

"If the US calculates that it can propagate its recent measure as the one of so-called good faith, they will not get the desired answer," she added.South Korea proposes talks to officially end war with NorthTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Edited by: Zac Crellin

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Open original at Deutsche Welle (English) ↗ · Deutsche Welle (German public broadcaster)