South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has sought to repair ties with the North since taking office last year.
On Monday Seoul expressed regret over civilian drone incursions into the North in January, with Lee calling it “irresponsible” and noting that government officials had been involved in the operation.
But analysts said the launches, North Korea’s fourth and fifth known ballistic missile tests this year, signalled its latest rebuff of Seoul’s peace overtures.
The South Korean military said early Wednesday it had detected “an unidentified projectile” launched from the area of the North’s capital a day earlier.
About an hour later, the military said it had also detected “multiple unidentified ballistic missiles” fired on Wednesday morning from North Korea’s Wonsan area toward the East Sea, the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
In separate statements, the military said they were short-range ballistic missiles that were fired at around 8:50 am (2350 GMT Tuesday) and flew around 240 kilometres (149 miles).
Another — also short-range and ballistic — was launched at around 2:20 pm, flying over 700 kilometres, it said.
The Japan Coast Guard also said an “object suspected to be a ballistic missile has been launched from North Korea”, urging ships to “remain vigilant”.
Seoul’s Office of National Security at the presidential Blue House held an emergency meeting, asking Pyongyang to immediately stop provocations.
After Lee’s expression of regret over the drones on Monday, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called it “wise behaviour”.
