SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired several ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday, South Korea’s military said, hours after South Korean and U.S. troops kicked off their large annual combined drills, which the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the Yellow Sea on Monday as Seoul and Washington launched their annual military drills, South Korean officials said. It marked the North's first known ballistic missile test since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

North Korea fired "multiple unidentified ballistic missiles" on Monday, South Korea's military said, the same day Seoul and Washington began a major annual joint military drill known as Freedom Shield.

SEOUL, March 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the Yellow Sea on Monday, South Korea's military said, as Seoul and Washington launched their annual military drills. It marked the North's first known ballistic missile test since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House.

South Korean and U.S. troops will begin their large annual joint military drills next week to enhance readiness against North Korean threats, the allies announced Thursday, days after North Korea threatened high-profile provocations against what it called escalating U.

North Korea on Monday condemned joint U.S.-South Korean military drills as a "provocative act," warning of the danger of sparking war with "an accidental single shot," days after Seoul's air force mistakenly bombed a village on its own territory.

North Korea on Monday denounced joint military drills by South Korea and the United States as a "dangerous provocative act," as the allies were set to begin their annual joint drills. The warning was issued by the North Korean foreign ministry in a statement dated Sunday,

The North Korea Foreign Ministry said U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises are "a dangerous provocative act," state media KCNA reported on Monday. Annual South Korean and U.S. military exercises called Freedom Shield are due to begin on Monday and run until March 20.