North Korea launches ballistic missiles towards sea before South Korean leader’s visit to China

South Korea’s military reports projectile launch hours before Lee Jae Myung was due to head to Beijing

North Korea launched ballistic missiles towards the sea on Sunday, its neighbours said, just hours before South Korea’s president was due to leave for talks in China expected to cover North Korea’s nuclear programme.

South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement that they detected several ballistic missile launches from North Korea’s capital region at about 7.50am local time. They said the missiles flew about 560 miles (900km) and that South Korea and US authorities were analysing details of the launches.