Why has North Korea fired a missile ahead of US-South Korea drills?

North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into waters off its east coast, just days before the United States and South Korea begin annual military drills known as the Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises in the region.

The launch at 6am on Wednesday (21:00 GMT) was the second reported North Korean missile test in less than a week amid tensions over Pyongyang’s growing military ties with Russia and concerns about its expanding weapons programme.

North Korea has not immediately commented on the latest launch but has repeatedly condemned annual US-South Korea drills in its neighbourhood.

Washington and Seoul say the exercises are defensive and designed to prepare their forces for potential North Korean attacks.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said a ballistic missile was launched from the Wonsan area, where a port city and naval base are located in Kangwon Province, North Korea, at about 6am local time (21:00 GMT). It flew for more than 700km (435 miles) before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

The launch was also detected by Japanese authorities, which reported that the missile had fallen outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

South Korea’s Office of National Security convened an emergency meeting and expressed concern over North Korea’s continued ballistic missile launches. It urged Pyongyang to halt provocations which violate UN Security ⁠⁠⁠⁠Council resolutions.

The launch came six days after North Korea fired another ballistic missile from the same area. Pyongyang did not confirm that earlier launch either, which Seoul, Washington and Tokyo all said they detected on August 6.