SEOUL: North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles on Saturday, Seoul said, a day after South Korea concluded five days of joint maritime drills with the United States and Japan that were focused on the North.

Pyongyang last month slammed plans for the so-called Freedom Edge joint exercises in international waters off South Korea as a “threat” to North Korea and other countries of the region.

On Saturday, Seoul’s mi­­l­­­­itary detected “multiple short-range ballistic mi­­s­­siles launched from the Wo­­n­­­san area toward the East Sea,” also known as Sea of Japan, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. The missiles we­ re detected at around 05:20am and flew around 250 kilometres, they added.

South Korean and US intelligence authorities “have tracked and shared relevant developments since the initial stage of the launch and also shared information regarding the… missile with Japan,” the JCS statement said.

In its last test, North Korea fired a barrage of missiles into the sea on August 20, despite an overture from US President Donald Trump, who said he planned to meet this year with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2026