North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles into the sea following the start of joint South Korea-US military exercises. Pyongyang views these drills as preparation for an invasion, while the US insists they are defensive.

North Korea fired "multiple unidentified ballistic missiles" on Monday, South Korea's military said, the same day Seoul and Washington began a major annual joint military drill known as Freedom Shield.

North Korea on Monday condemned joint U.S.-South Korean military drills as a "provocative act," warning of the danger of sparking war with "an accidental single shot," days after Seoul's air force mistakenly bombed a village on its own territory.