Seoul: South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS): South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Tuesday that North Korea launched what it believed were multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea.

According to Qatar News Agency, the JCS said in a statement that it had detected the launch of what it suspected were short-range ballistic missiles in the Ganggye area in the North’s Jagang Province.

“In preparation against additional launches, our military has strengthened our monitoring and vigilance, while closely sharing information on the North Korean missile with the US and Japanese sides and maintaining a full readiness posture,” the JCS said.

Tuesday’s launch marked the recalcitrant regime’s second provocation this year, after it fired what it claimed to be a hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile on Jan. 6.

The missile launch comes just days before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.