North Korea fired two unidentified projectiles into the eastern waters early on Thursday, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
The projectiles were launched near North Korea's eastern coastal city of Wonsan at 5:34 am and 5:57 am local time respectively, the JCS said in a statement.
The JCS said later that the first projectile flew about 430 kilometers, while the second one traveled around 690 kilometers, based on the joint analysis by South Korea and the US, according to local media reports.
The projectiles, believed to be new types of short-range missiles, landed in the East Sea after traveling at an altitude of some 50 kilometers. They were reportedly estimated to have been fired from mobile launchers.
The military authorities of South Korea and the US were analyzing what the projectiles were, the JCS said.
The South Korean military maintained a defense posture, closely monitoring relevant situations in preparation for a possibly additional launch.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at Thursday's press briefing that China hopes all parties concerned will cherish the hard-won dialogue and look forward to the resumption of consultations between North Korea and the US as soon as possible.
"North Korean and US leaders met in Panmunjom not long ago and reached a consensus on restarting consultations at the working level. China believes that under the current situation, North Korea and the US should resume consultations as soon as possible to promote new progress for a political settlement of the peninsula issue," Hua said.
South Korea's National Intelligence Service saw North Korea's projectile launches as a protest against the planned South Korea-US joint military exercise, called "Dong Maeng 19-2," scheduled for next month.
North Korean Foreign Ministry warned last week that Pyongyang might end the scheduled working-level negotiations with Washington if the planned South Korea-US military drills happen.
It was North Korea's first launch of projectiles since the country fired projectiles twice in May. During the latest launch of two projectiles on May 9, those flew about 420 kilometers and 270 kilometers each.
