<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>North Korea has fired a missile towards the South, which crossed the two countries' maritime border for the first since the Korean War.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The short-range ballistic missile landed near the South Korean island of Ulleungdo, triggering the island's air-raid alarm.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Residents on the tiny island were told to evacuate and seek shelter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pyongyang fired a total of three short-range ballistic missiles off its eastern coast around 09:00 (00:00 GMT).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">South Korean authorities immediately condemned the launches. President Yoon Suk-yeol has called a National Security Cabinet meeting.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The missiles come a day after Pyongyang warned the US and South Korea to stop conducting joint military drills around the peninsula this week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It had threatened to follow up with "powerful" measures.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both South Korean and Japanese authorities recorded the missiles on Wednesday morning, including the one which had breached the Northern Limit Line.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That missile had fallen in international waters, about 26km south of the maritime demarcation border, 57km east of the South Korean city of Sokcho and 168km north-west of Ulleungdo island. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>