THE North Korea launched “several” ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Monday, South Korea’s military said.

The Japanese government and Japanese coast guard also announced that North Korea had launched one apparently a ballistic missile. The missile appears to have fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, NHK television reported.

The Japanese television network NTV reported, citing a Japanese government official, that it was a short-range ballistic missile.

South Korea’s military’s general staff said North Korea may have fired several short-range ballistic missiles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang, without giving further details.

News of the launch came as South Korea announced that its military chief, Admiral Kim Myung-soo, had hosted US Space Command chief General Steven Whiting to discuss North Korea’s deployment of reconnaissance satellites and the growing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow;

After a summit between the leaders of the two countries in September, there are suspicions that North Korea supplies Russia with arms and ammunition for its invasion of Ukraine, although both deny this claim.

North Korea is believed to be preparing to launch another spy satellite after successfully launching a reconnaissance satellite in November.

North Korea announced last week that it had fired a strategic cruise missile to test a large warhead, as well as a new anti-aircraft missile.

Earlier in April, North Korea had launched a new hypersonic missile as part of the development of its all-range solid-fuel missile arsenal.

Pyongyang has defied a ban on behalf of the United Nations Security Council to develop ballistic missiles and has rejected Security Council resolutions saying they violate its sovereign right to self-defense.