North Korea has test-fired five short-range missiles since conducting a nuclear test two days ago, South Korea's defence ministry said Wednesday.
The ministry said the North fired two missiles on Monday — one fewer than earlier reported — and three on Tuesday. It had previously refused to confirm media reports of the launches.
All were fired off the east coast of the communist state and were said to have a range of 130 kilometres (80 miles).
Officials say North Korea has also banned ships from an area of the Yellow Sea off its west coast, suggesting it is preparing to launch short-range missiles there also.
Several times in recent years, the North has test-fired short-range missiles in either the Yellow Sea or the Sea of Japan. The exercises are often staged to coincide with periods of regional tension.
The North's jet fighters have more than doubled the number of missions near the land border amid the growing tensions, military officials said.
Pyongyang earlier Wednesday said it was treating Seoul's decision to join a US-led anti-proliferation exercise as a declaration of war.
"Apart from missile launches, the North's air force training has increased," a defence ministry spokesman told AFP.
But there have been no major drills or provocative activities by the North's ground forces along the Demilitarised Zone which has split the peninsula since the 1950-53 war, he said.
South Korea regards the missile launches this week as "a display of firepower or an attempt to improve its missile programme," he said.
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