(LEAD) Cheong Wa Dae-NK missile

▲ Cheong Wa Dae (Yonhap)

(ATTN: UPDATES with details; RECASTS lead paras)

SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Yonhap) -- The presidential National Security Office (NSO) demanded Monday that North Korea immediately stop its ballistic missile launches, calling them a grave violation of international sanctions.

The NSO issued the call during an emergency meeting, shortly after the South Korean military detected multiple ballistic missiles launched from the Pyongyang area over the East Sea.

"North Korea's repeated ballistic missile launches are grave acts that violate U.N. Security Council resolutions and are of no help to managing the current situation on the Korean Peninsula, and (the NSO) demanded they be halted immediately," presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a written briefing.

The meeting brought together officials from the defense ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and reviewed the country's readiness posture and security situation in light of North Korea's recent successive missile launches, according to the spokesperson.

The NSO called for taking all necessary measures while analyzing and assessing the latest launch's impact on South Korea's security.

North Korea last fired a ballistic missile on Oct. 3 in what it said was a test of an intermediate-range hypersonic strategic missile.

Tensions between the two Koreas have run high in recent weeks after Seoul's military and the United States-led U.N. Command found the North responsible for mine explosions that injured three South Korean soldiers near their heavily fortified border last month.

Pyongyang has denied responsibility and accused Seoul of fabricating the findings.

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