N Korea again fires ballistic missiles

North Korea fired two ballistic missiles early yesterday, South Korea's military said, the nuclear-armed country's fourth launch this week as Seoul, Tokyo and Washington ramp up joint military drills to counter Pyongyang.

South Korea, Japan and the US staged anti-submarine drills Friday -- the first in five years -- just days after Washington and Seoul's navies conducted large-scale exercises in waters off the peninsula.

US Vice President Kamala Harris was in Seoul Thursday and toured the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula, on a trip that aimed to underscore her country's "ironclad" commitment to South Korea's defence against the North.

With talks long-stalled, Pyongyang has doubled down on its banned weapons programmes, conducting a record-breaking blitz of tests this year and revising its laws to declare itself an "irreversible" nuclear power.

South Korea's military said it had "detected two short-range missiles between 0645 and 0703 fired from the Sunan area in Pyongyang into the East Sea", referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.