This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

North Korea has fired two unidentified projectiles into the sea from South Hwanghae province, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The launches came as Pyongyang described Washington and Seoul’s war games as a “flagrant violation” of efforts to reach peace on the Korean peninsula which reflected a lack of “political will” to improve relations.

“Despite our repeated warnings, the United States and South Korean authorities have finally started the joint military exercise targeting the DPRK,” the foreign ministry spokesman for the nuclear-armed North said, according to the state news agency, KCNA.

North Korea launched two missiles into the sea, says South Korea Read more

The foreign ministry said the military drills were violations of diplomatic agreements and added that North Korea had remained unchanged in its commitment to resolve the issues through dialogue, but “will be compelled to seek a new road as we have already indicated,” if South Korea and the United States continue with hostile military moves.

North Korea has fired a series of missiles and rockets since leader Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump agreed at a 30 June meeting at the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas to revive stalled denuclearisation talks.

Trump has played down the recent projectile launches, saying they did not break any agreement he had with Kim, but the talks are yet to resume, and analysts believe the missiles are designed both to improve North Korean military capabilities and to pressure Washington to offer more concessions.

The US Department of Defence will “continue to monitor the situation and are consulting closely with our South Korean and Japanese allies,” a department spokesman said.

The North Korean foreign ministry spokesman said the arrival of new, US-made F-35A stealth fighters in South Korea, the visit of an American nuclear-powered submarine to a South Korean port, and US tests of ballistic missiles, were among the steps that forced North Korea to continue its own weapons development.

“The US and South Korean authorities remain outwardly talkative about dialogue,” the spokesman said. “But when they sit back, they sharpen a sword to do us harm.“

A South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman told a regular press briefing on Monday that the allies were “preparing for a joint exercise in the latter half of the year,” but would not confirm the name of the exercise or whether it has already started.

South Korean media reported that US-South Korea joint military exercises had de facto begun on Monday, to verify the South Korean military’s basic operational capability for the transfer of wartime operational control.

Pyongyang has “continued to enhance its nuclear and missile programmes” and used cyberattacks to take in $2bn to fund the development, a United Nations report said on Monday.

The report, compiled by independent experts monitoring compliance over the past six months, said North Korean “cyber actors”, many operating under the direction of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, raised money for the nuclear programme.