SEOUL | North Korea has launched three ballistic missiles, the South Korean military said Thursday, hours after Pyongyang announced it had detected the first-ever case of COVID-19 on its territory.

• Read also: First case of Covid in North Korea, Kim Jong Un orders national containment

"Three short-range ballistic missiles were fired from Sunan, north of Pyongyang around 6:29 p.m. (0929 GMT), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP, adding that they were drawn from the East Sea, also called the Sea of ​​Japan.

Japan's defense ministry also confirmed the shooting, and the country's coastguard told AFP it had issued an alert.

It could be the sixteenth test firing since the beginning of the year and it comes two days after the inauguration of new South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

North Korea also carried out, according to Seoul and Tokyo, two separate ballistic missile tests in the week before its inauguration.

Yet under international sanctions, imposed in retaliation for its missile and nuclear weapons program, North Korea has dramatically stepped up its testing this year, while ignoring U.S. negotiating proposals.

Earlier in the day on Thursday, North Korea announced that it had registered its very first case of Covid and described the situation as “serious and urgent”.

Leader Kim Jong Un appeared on television for the first time in a mask and ordered a nationwide lockdown.