South Korea holds emergency meeting as North Korea fires ballistic missiles towards sea

South Korea held an emergency security meeting after its military said North Korea fired several ballistic missiles from its capital Pyongyang towards the sea off its east coast at around 7:50 am local time on Sunday, Report informs via Reuters.

The first launch of North Korea's ballistic missiles in two months comes as South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will make a state visit to China starting on Sunday, where Seoul has said peace on the Korean peninsula would be discussed.

South Korea's presidential office said it had held an emergency security meeting and urged North Korea to cease "provocative acts that violate United Nations Security Council resolutions".

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the launches threaten the peace and security of the region and the international community.

"Our government lodged a strong protest with North Korea and strongly condemned it," Koizumi said in a statement.