North Korea fires ballistic missiles after U.S. and South start annual joint drills, Seoul says

Seoul, South Korea — North Korea fired several ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday, South Korea's military said, hours after South Korean and U.S. troops kicked off their large annual combined drills, which the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile firings, North Korea's fifth missile launch event this year, were detected as coming from the North's Hwanghae province but gave no further details such as how far they flew. It said South Korea bolstered its surveillance posture and is closely coordinating with the United States.

Earlier Monday, the South Korean and U.S. militaries began their annual joint military exercises, which are scheduled to last 11 days. The Freedom Shield command post exercise began after the South Korean and U.S. militaries paused live-fire training while Seoul investigates how two of its fighter jets mistakenly bombed a civilian area during a warm-up drill last week.