North Korea fired off at least three apparent ballistic missiles on Monday, Japan's Defense Ministry said, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul for a multinational democracy summit.
All three missiles fell into the Sea of Japan just minutes after their launches, the ministry said, with the weapons traveling about 350 kilometers each before landing in waters outside Japan's exclusive economic zone, which extends 200 nautical miles (370 km) from its coast.
Speaking in parliament, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida slammed the North's latest launch, the nuclear-armed country's first firing of ballistic missiles since Jan. 14, when it tested what it said was a solid-fueled intermediate range ballistic missile.