North Korea has fired three ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast that had a range of between 500 and 600 kilometres, South Korea's military says.
The missiles were launched towards the east from an area in the North's western region from 5.45am to 6.40am local time on Tuesday, and had a range that can strike all of South Korea, the South's military said.
"The ballistic missiles flight went from 500 kilometres to 600 kilometres, which is a distance far enough to strike all of South Korea including Busan," the South's military said in a statement.
Busan is a South Korean port city in the south.
North Korea has test-fired a series of ballistic missiles in recent months including an intermediate-range missile in June and a submarine-launched missile this month.
Tuesday's launch came days after South Korea and the US announced a final decision this month to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system in the South to counter threats from the North.
North Korea's military has threatened to retaliate against the deployment of the system with a "physical response" once its location and time of installation were decided.
China has also sharply criticised the decision as a move that will destabilise the security balance in the region.
The US military said on Monday it detected and tracked three North Korean missile launches over the span of nearly an hour.
US Strategic Command said in a statement it detected the launches of what it believed were two Scud tactical ballistic missiles and a No Dong intermediate-range ballistic missile.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command determined the missile launches from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America, the statement said.
Reuters
