SEOUL - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has fired multiple ballistic missiles into east waters as combined forces of South Korea and the United States launched their joint military exercises, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) of South Korea said Monday.

The JCS was quoted by local media as saying that several ballistic missiles of an unidentified type were fired from Tongchanri-ri in the DPRK's northwest region at about 7:36 am local time (2236 GMT on Sunday).

The missiles flew about 1,000 km into the east waters. The Tongchang-ri is home to the DPRK's Sohae Satellite Launching Station where a long-range rocket was launched in February last year following the nuclear detonation the previous month.

Japan's top government spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary confirmed the missile launch, saying four missiles were fired and three fell into Japan's exclusive economic zone.

The DPRK's missile launches came after Seoul and Washington kicked off the Foal Eagle field training exercise on March 1.