(2nd LD) N. Korea fires 2 short-range ballistic missiles toward East Sea: S. Korean military

(ATTN: UPDATES with JCS' explanation in paras 3-4; RECASTS headline, lead para)

SEOUL, June 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, Seoul's military said, in apparent protest over a recent series of massive South Korea-U.S. live-fire drills that ended this week.

Earlier in the day, a spokesperson for the North's defense ministry issued a statement denouncing what it called the "provocative and irresponsible" drills.

Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launches from the Sunan area in Pyongyang between 7:25 p.m. and 7:37 p.m. It did not elaborate further, pending an analysis.

"While strengthening its monitoring and vigilance against additional provocations, our military is maintaining a readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States," the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

The allies ended the fifth and last round of the Combined Joint Live-Fire Exercise, the first of its kind in six years, at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, just 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border, on Thursday to mark the 70th anniversary of the bilateral alliance.

More than 610 military assets were mobilized for the drills, including F-35A fighters and K9 self-propelled howitzers from the South Korean side, and F-16 fighter jets and Gray Eagle drones from the U.S. side.

The North's defense ministry accused the allies of escalating tensions, saying the drills warrant its "inevitable" response.

"Our army strongly denounces the provocative and irresponsible moves of the puppet military authorities escalating the military tension in the region despite its repeated warnings and warns them solemnly," the spokesperson said in the statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

"Our armed forces will fully counter any form of demonstrative moves and provocation of the enemies," the official added.

The latest launch also came as the South Korean military has been conducting an operation to salvage the wreckage of an ill-fated North Korean space rocket in the Yellow Sea.

On May 31, the North fired what it claimed to be a satellite-carrying rocket, but it crashed into the sea due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine, according to the North's state media.

The North last conducted a missile launch on April 13. It claimed to have fired a new solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile.

sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)