SEOUL: North Korea launched a short-range ballistic missile toward the sea off its eastern coast on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, marking Pyongyang’s first weapons test in over a month and coming just days before the United States and South Korea are set to begin their annual joint military exercises.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from the eastern coastal Wonsan area at around 5 p.m. local time, adding that the military had bolstered its surveillance posture and was coordinating closely with the United States. Japan’s Defence Ministry confirmed the missile did not land within its exclusive economic zone.

The launch was North Korea’s first since late June, when it tested a tactical ballistic missile carrying what it called a “special mission” warhead, alongside other weapons systems. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had at the time called for strengthening the military’s “deadly and destructive offensive posture.”

Thursday’s test comes ahead of large-scale annual drills between the US and South Korea, typically held in the latter half of August, which Pyongyang has long characterised as a rehearsal for invasion. Washington and Seoul maintain the exercises are purely defensive in nature. North Korea has continued expanding its nuclear and missile programmes even as high-level diplomacy with the US remains stalled.