North Korea fires missiles hours after Trump announces Kim meeting

North Korea fired more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles towards the East Sea on Thursday. The missiles were launched from the Pyongyang area at around 5:00 pm and flew approximately 300 kilometres, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The launch came hours after US President Donald Trump announced a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which is set to take place later this year. Trump also mentioned that Pyongyang had around 57 "very powerful" nuclear weapons, although Seoul estimates the number to be between 80-120.

South Korea's presidential office condemned the missile launch as a "grave act" that violates UN Security Council resolutions and ordered its military to maintain full readiness during ongoing joint exercises with the United States. The office convened an emergency security meeting attended by officials from the defence ministry and military authorities.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch Nigeria, Business Recorder, Malay Mail, CBC News, The Korea Times — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.