The US Indo-Pacific Command issued the statement after the North fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the Yellow Sea. The missile launches came as South Korea and the US kicked off their annual Freedom Shield exercise on Monday for an 11-day run. North Korea has long denounced the allies’ joint exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion against it and has a track record of staging weapons tests in response. It released back-to-back statements denouncing the latest joint drills, threatening that Seoul and Washington will pay a \”horrible\” price for their \”dangerous provocative act\” North Korea last fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on January 14. The North launched a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions. The U.S. military assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to US personnel, or territory, or to our allies. The US commitments to the defence of the ROK and Japan remain ironclad, the command said. The command noted that the US is consulting closely over the launches with S. Korea and Japan as well as other regional allies and partners.