NK fires three missiles amid tension over drone flights

Seoul: North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters in its latest weapons display on Saturday, a day after rival South Korea launched a solid-fuelled rocket as part of its efforts to build a space-based surveillance capability to better monitor the North. Tensions between the rival Koreas rose earlier this week when South Korea accused N Korea of flying five drones across the rivals' tense border for the first time in five years and responded by sending its own drones toward the North.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement it detected the three launches from an inland area south of Pyongyang, the North's capital, on Saturday morning. It said the three missiles traveled about 350 kilometers before landing in the waters between

the Korean Peninsula and Japan. The estimated range suggests the missiles tested target

South Korea.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff called the launches "a grave provocation" that undermines international peace.