On September 18, Yonhap news agency quoted a source from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) as saying that North Korea had launched many short-range ballistic missiles toward the northeast of the country.

According to the JCS announcement, the launches took place at 6:50 a.m. on September 18 (local time) from North Korea's South Phyongan Province. The JCS did not provide further details and confirmed that it was analyzing the incident.

Immediately after South Korea's announcement, Japan confirmed the information and said Pyongyang had launched a second missile. Both missiles fell into the sea.

In the first launch, Japan's Defense Ministry said it appeared North Korea had used a ballistic missile. The Japan Coast Guard later reported a second ballistic missile launch by Pyongyang.

Meanwhile, NHK channel quoted government sources as saying that both missiles fell outside Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), but did not provide details about the missiles' flight direction and trajectory.

The launch took place in the context that last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected a number of nuclear facilities in the country, in which he requested to promote and strengthen nuclear capabilities to deal with external threats.

MINH CHAU