North Korea fires missiles after US, South Korea and Japan military drills but America says 'does not pose immediate threat'

North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile toward the Sea of Japan on Saturday (Sep 12), South Korea's Defense Ministry said. This came just a day after South Korea concluded five days of joint maritime drills with the United States and Japan that were focused on North Korea. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a statement, said that it detected the launch from around 5:20 a.m. (2020 GMT on Friday) that flew about 250 km (155 miles), toward the body of water that Koreans call the East Sea. South Korea’s National Security Office convened an emergency security situation review meeting, according to a separate statement. It urged North Korea to immediately halt ballistic missile launches, calling them a serious violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

"South Korea's military is closely monitoring North Korean activity and maintaining ​the capability and readiness to respond overwhelmingly to any provocation under its combined defence posture with ​the United States," the JCS said in a statement.

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North Korea had slammed plans for the drills named ‘Freedom Edge exercises’ in international waters off South Korea as a "threat" to Pyongyang and other countries of the region. North Korea’s defense minister, Kim Song Gi had warned North Korea was capable of taking “strong and reflective countermeasures from the standpoint of power."

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How US reacted?

US Pacific Command also released a statement and said that it was aware of the launches, but based on its current assessment, it declared that they did not pose an immediate threat to US personnel, territory or allies. “We are aware of the recent missile launch and are consulting closely with our allies and partners. Based on current assessments, this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies. The United States remains committed to the defense of the U.S. homeland and our allies in the region,” it said in a statement.

The statement comes amid US President Donald Trump's makes another overture to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump also shortened annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercises between South and US and called the drills "inappropriate and hostile" towards North Korea. Trump told reporters at the White House on August 19 he plans to meet the North Korean leader this year. The US president also said it was important to "get along" with Kim, adding that Pyongyang now had 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons. Seoul has said the North has around 80-120 nuclear weapons.