▲ This file photo, released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on April 3, 2024, shows an intermediate-range ballistic missile tipped with a hypersonic warhead being fired the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

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SEOUL, Sept. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Saturday, South Korea's military said, just a day after South Korea, the United States and Japan wrapped up their trilateral military exercise.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected multiple ballistic missiles launched from the Wonsan area at around 5:20 a.m., without providing further details.

The South Korean military has stepped up surveillance to detect possible additional launches and maintains readiness on "full alert" while sharing relevant information with the U.S. and Japan, the JCS said.

The latest launch came after Seoul, Washington and Tokyo concluded their five-day Freedom Edge exercise Friday in international waters east and south of South Korea's southern island of Jeju.

The drills proceeded as planned despite Seoul and Washington having scaled back their annual combined Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise last month following an order from U.S. President Donald Trump.

In an apparent conciliatory gesture toward Pyongyang, Trump ordered the reduction of joint military drills between South Korea and the U.S., saying that the drills are not only "costly" but also send a "totally inappropriate and hostile" signal to the North.

The missile launch came after North Korean Defense Minister Kim Song-gi denounced the trilateral exercise Monday, vowing to take "reflective countermeasures."

In a statement, Kim warned, "If the U.S. and its allies attempt to provoke a new military confrontation with the DPRK, the latter will take strong and reflective countermeasures from the standpoint of power," using the acronym of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The North last fired a barrage of short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Aug. 20, as the allies staged their annual UFS drills.

The North has long denounced joint military drills between Seoul and Washington as a rehearsal for invasion and responded with its own weapons tests in a show of protest.

Saturday's launch came ahead of a high-stakes summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, expected to take place in Washington, D.C., later this month. North Korea-related issues are expected to be part of the agenda for the upcoming Trump-Xi meeting.

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