Seoul, Nov. 2: North Korea on Wednesday launched 100 projectiles, including ballistic missiles, in a single day in a show of power amid ongoing joint military exercises by South Korea and the US.

Seoul found one missile landing across its de facto maritime border with Pyongyang, the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

South Korea also confirmed around 100 artillery shells and 17 ballistic and other missiles launched by the North.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said North Korea launched a ballistic missile, just hours after launching a barrage of missiles toward waters off the Korean Peninsula.

It added that Pyongyang also fired about 100 artillery projectiles into the maritime buffer zone.

Earlier Wednesday, North Korea fired at least 10 ballistic missiles in a single day apparently in retaliation to joint air drills by the US and South Korea.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the “three short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) from a site in or around the North's eastern coastal city of Wonsan.”

In the latest military escalation on the Korean peninsula, one of the SRBMs landed near South Korea's territorial waters.

It is the first time since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, that any missile from North Korea flew across its de facto maritime border with the South, Yonhap News reported.

Seoul responded with its fighter jets firing three precision-guided missiles into waters north of the Northern Limit Line.

The latest provocation came apparently in protest against the five-day large-scale combined air drills by South Korea and the United States that kicked off Monday amid growing speculation that Pyongyang may conduct a nuclear test soon.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday condemned North Korea’s latest missile fires and ordered its military to be ready against any further "provocations" by Pyongyang.

Yoon chaired an emergency meeting of the National Security Council and “noted that North Korea's provocation today was effectively a violation of our territory by a missile that crossed the NLL for the first time since the division," the agency cited a statement from his office.

“President Yoon Suk-yeol ordered that strict measures be taken swiftly to ensure North Korea pays a clear price for its provocation," the office said.

In Beijing, China's Foreign Ministry urged the relevant parties "to maintain peace and stability, resolve each other's concerns through dialogue, and prevent the tense situation there from escalating."

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have risen following recent military drills by South Korea and the US as well as North Korean missile tests.

On Friday, Pyongyang launched an "unspecified" ballistic missile just as South Korea was about to wrap up its annual 12-day Hoguk field training exercise, local media reported, citing a military statement.

North Korea recently also fired a short-range ballistic missile into the East Sea, just two days after launching two long-range strategic cruise missiles involving units operating “tactical nukes.”

On Oct. 4, the US and South Korean forces held live-fire joint drills after North Korea fired a missile over Japan for the first time in five years.

Tensions in the region began in 2020 when North Korea attacked and blew up the inter-Korean liaison office along the border.-Agencies