N.Korean Missile Crosses Sea Border

North Korea launched three short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday morning.

One of them fell into South Korean territorial waters, triggering an air raid alert and sending residents on Ulleung Island scurrying for shelter.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff here said the missiles were fired from multiple areas at around 8:51 a.m. One of them flew across the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border, for the first time since the Korean War and fell into the East Sea only 57 km from Sokcho, Gangwon Province and 167 km from Ulleung Island.

North Korea refuses to recognize the NLL, which runs close to its own coastline, but rarely violates it so blatantly.

The provocation was followed by at least seven other missile launches of various kinds from the West Sea.

The JCS fired warning shots in response and warned the South "will never condone the North's provocation and firmly respond to it in close cooperation with the U.S. while further strengthening surveillance and vigilance."

North Korea has been launching a continuous series of provocations amid signs of another imminent nuclear test.