North Korea has launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles towards the sea off the country’s east coast, South Korea’s military reports.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missile launches were detected on Tuesday morning at approximately 9:30am local time (00:30 GMT) and were believed to have originated from North Korea’s Jagang Province, the Yonhap news agency reports.

The missiles travelled up to 250km (155 miles) before landing in the sea, South Korea’s military said.

The JCS said it was preparing for additional missile launches and the South Korean military had strengthened monitoring of North Korea’s activities and was closely sharing information with US and Japanese counterparts while “maintaining a full readiness posture”.

South Korea’s Acting President Choi Sang-mok said the country would sternly respond to North Korea’s latest missile launch, and condemned Pyongyang’s continued violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions prohibiting such weapons tests.

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The launches on Tuesday were the second so far this year after North Korea test-fired a new type of hypersonic intermediate-range missile on January 6. Pyongyang said the January 6 test was of a new hypersonic missile designed to strike remote targets in the Pacific.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has promised to expand his collection of nuclear-capable weapons to counter rival nations and at a year-end political conference, Kim said he would implement the “toughest” anti-US policy so far.

He also criticised Washington’s efforts to strengthen security cooperation with Seoul and Tokyo, which North Korea views as the development of a “nuclear military bloc for aggression” that is focused on toppling his regime.