SEOUL: North Korea has fired 2 short-range ballistic missiles, South Korea’s military has said, the most recent in its flurry of weapons tests in latest weeks.

The launch occurs just after the conclusion of their greatest joint military exercises in the past five years and as the South and the US conduct a joint amphibious landing practise. North Korea has regularly promised "overwhelming" retaliation, denouncing such activities as invasion drills. The joint chiefs of staff of South Korea reported that "our military detected two short-range ballistic missiles fired from around Junghwa area in North Hwanghae province."

According to the Defence Ministry in Seoul, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group will exercise alongside the South's largest warships on Monday in the waters south of the peninsula.

The Choe Yeong destroyer and the Sejong the Great destroyer, both of which are fitted with Aegis fighting systems, will be mobilised for the exercise, which will take place in international seas south of the island of Jeju. The next day, the aircraft carrier will make a port stop in Busan, the Ministry of Defense announced.

The US sent the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier to South Korea in September of last year as the allies sought to strengthen the "extended deterrent" against the North's escalating military threats.

In 2022, Pyongyang increased its nuclear threats and conducted a record-breaking number of weapons tests. As a result, security cooperation between Seoul and Washington has increased. The circumstances have also compelled Japan and South Korea to set aside their differences from the past and work to increase their security cooperation.

Kim reportedly called for an "exponential" rise in weapon manufacturing, including tactical nuclear weapons, and North Korea declared itself a "irreversible" nuclear power in 2022. Last month, Kim also gave the command to the North Korean military to step up training in order to get ready for "actual war."

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