North Korea today launched another ballistic missile in an eastward direction — toward the East Sea, as it is called in Korea, or the Sea of ​​Japan, as it is called in that country — South Korea’s National Defense General Staff announced.

The Japanese coast guard, for its part, spoke of no less than three ballistic missile launches, all of which have already fallen into the sea, with at least the first landing outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

The new launches come two days after Pyongyang test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in what it called a “surprise” exercise.

Today’s weapons test is already the third major one this year and comes after North Korea warned of an “unprecedented” response as the US and South Korea prepared for their annual military drills.

Tensions on the Korean peninsula remain at an extremely high level, amid repeated weapons tests by North Korea and an intensification of joint US and South Korean military high schools. Seoul and Washington have been warning since last year that Pyongyang is preparing to proceed with a new nuclear weapon test.