US, South Korea Test-Fire 8 Missiles in Response to North Korea's Launches - Reports

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - South Korea and the United States test-fired eight missiles on Sunday, in response to North Korea’s latest missile test, the South Korean Yonhap news agency reports.

Yonhap said citing the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) on Monday morning that the ground-to-ground Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles were test-fired "at various targets" into the Sea of Japan.

The test-fire lasted for around 10 minutes and started at 04:45 a.m. local time on Monday (19:45 GMT on Sunday), according to the JCS.

"The South Korea-U.S. combined firing of the ground-to-ground missiles demonstrated the capability and posture to launch immediate precision strikes on the origins of provocations and their command and support forces," the JCS said in a statement, as quoted by Yonhap.

The South Korean military strongly condemned North Korea's ballistic missile launches and urged Pyongyang to stop raising military tensions in the region.

According to the South Korean military, Pyongyang test-fired a total of eight short-range ballistic missiles toward the Sea of Japan on Sunday. The Sunday test-firing was North Korea’s 18th missile test since the start of this year.