North Korea has fired what are believed to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea, South Korea’s military says, as it continues to expand military capabilities amid a standstill in nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectiles were fired from inland in western North Korea and flew cross-country before landing in waters off the country’s eastern coast. The Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t immediately give specific details on how far they flow.

It was the third round of launches the North conducted this month after leader Kim Jong Un entered the new year vowing to bolster his nuclear deterrent in face of “gangster-like” US sanctions and pressure.

Nuclear talks have stalemated since the collapse of the second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in early 2019, when the Americans rejected North Korean demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

-agencies