South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS) says North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday morning.

The JCS said Thursday that the South Korean military detected multiple short-range ballistic missiles fired from the Pyongyang area toward the East Sea at around 7:10 a.m. and the missiles flew some 360 kilometers before landing in the eastern waters. 

An uninhabited island off the North’s Hamgyong Province is located about 360 kilometers east of Pyongyang. 

The island is frequently used by North Korea as a target for short-range ballistic missile launches. 

If the missiles had been fired southward instead, they could have reached major South Korean cities like Seoul and Daejeon, as well as other cities with key military facilities such as Gyeryong, Gunsan and Cheongju.

The JCS strongly condemned the latest launch as an “act of provocation” that gravely threatens the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula, and vowed a stern response.

The launch comes after the North sent trash-laden balloons across the border into South Korea for five straight days last week. 

Previously, on July 1, the North launched two ballistic missiles in a northeasterly direction from the Jangyon area in South Hwanghae Province.