North Korea fires missiles as US-S Korea drills begin

North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea as annual US-South Korea military exercises got under way, officials in Seoul say.

The two missiles, with a range of 490km (305 miles), were fired from the western city of Nampo into the sea east of the Korean peninsula, the South Korean military said.

The drills, involving tens of thousands of troops, always anger Pyongyang.

It traditionally shows its displeasure with missile tests and louder rhetoric.

Seoul and Washington describe the military exercises as defensive in nature. North Korea calls them a rehearsal for invasion.

Key Resolve, a largely computer-simulated exercise, lasts 12 days and Foal Eagle, which has ground, air and sea components, lasts eight weeks.