The U.S. Defense Department says that the projectiles fired by North Korea on Thursday were ballistic short-range missiles.

According to Reuters, the Pentagon said in a statement later that day that the missiles flew in excess of 300 kilometers and landed in the ocean.

South Korea's military said earlier on Thursday that the North is believed to have launched two short-range missiles from the northwestern part of the Korean Peninsula into the East Sea, which flew 420 kilometers and 270 km, respectively.

The latest test-firing of ballistic missiles marks the North's first violation of UN sanctions concerning such launches in over 17 months and the first since Security Council Resolution 2397 was adopted in December 2017.

The resolution, which explicitly bans North Korea from conducting launches that use ballistic missile technology, nuclear tests or any other provocation, was introduced in response to the North's launch of a Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile on November 29th, 2017.

[Photo : YONHAP News]