North Korea fires up to 10 ballistic missiles toward sea, hours after Trump speaks of re-engagement

Trump had also ordered U.S.-South Korea military exercises which anger Pyongang scaled back

South Korea's presidential office condemned North Korea's launch of more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday and ordered its military to maintain full readiness during ongoing joint exercises with the United States.

The presidential office convened an emergency security meeting attended by officials from the Defence Ministry and military authorities after North Korea fired the missiles from the Pyongyang area toward the sea to the east of the Korean Peninsula, it said in a statement.

"The ballistic missile launch is a grave act that violates UN Security Council resolutions," it said, calling on North Korea to immediately halt such actions.

Officials reviewed South Korea's response posture, assessed the security implications of the launches and discussed necessary measures, the office said.

The missiles flew around 300 kilometres toward the sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Trump puts a number on North's nukes

The missile barrage comes the day after the South Korean and U.S. militaries said they were scaling back their 11-day Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises, set to conclude by the end of Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to "substantially reduce" the exercise just before it began Monday. Trump cited what he said was a good relationship with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un as well as South Korea's refusal to support the U.S. in its war in Iran.

Asked by reporters Wednesday if he would be meeting with Kim this year, Trump replied, "Yeah, I will be."

Trump added that North Korea possessed 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons, the first time he's cited that figure. South Korean officials have said they believe the number is between 80 and 120 nuclear warheads.

WATCH | Trump wants U.S. to scale back exercises with South Korea:Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un's sister who has emerged as a spokesperson for the regime in recent years, dismissed Trump's overture later Wednesday.

"The provocative, aggressive nature of the drills won't change even though their duration and size were reduced," she said. "If the U.S. calculates that it can propagate its recent measure as the one of so-called good faith, they will not get the desired answer."

She also cited a series of other military drills carried out by the U.S. and South Korea earlier this year and South Korea's push to introduce nuclear-powered submarines.

Kim Yo Jong said personal relations between her brother and Trump are "still excellent," but denied Trump's claim that the North Korean leader had responded to his request for a conversation.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said the launch appeared aimed at underscoring that Kim Yo Jong's warning a day earlier was "not mere rhetoric."

He said the launch likely served multiple purposes, including signalling opposition to the South Korea-U.S. military exercises, expressing displeasure over recent discussion of North Korea's nuclear arsenal, and warning outside powers against speculation about Pyongyang's security affairs.

"It is a message that matters concerning North Korea's security are for North Korea to decide," Yang said, adding the launch could also have been used to test improved missile systems.

During Trump's first year as president in 2017, North Korean missile tests infuriated him, and he threatened the regime with "fire and fury." He would later meet Kim three times — to the chagrin of advisers like John Bolton — setting a precedent for a U.S. president but without achieving any substantial diplomatic breakthrough.

Trump, dating back to his first term, has repeatedly questioned the cost of maintaining roughly 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea while insisting that Seoul remains an important ally.

The allies have a cost-sharing agreement covering 2026 to 2030, under which Seoul will contribute about 1.52 trillion won ($1.1 billion US) this year toward the upkeep of American troops. Nevertheless, Trump has continued to argue that South Korea pays too little.

Japan's government and coast guard also said North Korea appeared to have fired a ballistic missile towards the sea on Thursday. Japan's coast guard said the projectile had already fallen.

The missile appeared to have landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone in the sea, NHK reported.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who visited Seoul this week, urged South Korea not to take sides between Beijing and Washington, saying the U.S. should abandon its "hostile" policy toward North Korea.

"China would be glad to see the peninsula move toward peaceful coexistence between South Korea and North Korea," Wang told his South Korean counterpart.

China and North Korea have appeared to reinforce their ties recently, with Kim and Xi Jinping meeting twice in the past year.

With files from CBC News and the Associated Press