North Korea fired several ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday, South Korea's military said, hours after South Korean and U.S. troops kicked off their large annual combined drills, which the North views as an invasion rehearsal.

The Offices of Guam Homeland Security and Civil Defense, in conjunction with the Mariana Regional Fusion Center, federal and military partners, continue to monitor events surrounding the region including reports of the recent launch of an unidentified projectile out of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea today. 

“No immediate threat was assessed for the Marianas from the reported launch,” said Homeland Security Advisor, Esther Aguigui. “The community is reminded to have preparedness plans for all hazards and all threats and become comfortable about discussing them with your families. Natural hazards are prevalent but it is important to have discussions for human-caused threats as well.”

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile firings, North Korea's fifth missile launch event this year, were detected as coming from the North's Hwanghae province but gave no further details such as how far they flew. It said South Korea bolstered its surveillance posture and is closely coordinating with the United States.

The Freedom Shield exercise marks the first large-scale joint exercise since President Trump began his second term. It comes amid growing tensions with North Korea over its nuclear ambitions and its alignment with Russia in President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine.

Mr. Trump, who met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times during his first term, has expressed his willingness to reach out to Kim again to revive diplomacy, which collapsed due to disagreements over exchanging U.S.-led sanctions against the North and the North's denuclearization steps. But Pyongyang has yet to respond to his overture and has continued its fiery rhetoric against Washington and Seoul over their joint military exercises, which Kim portrays as rehearsals for invasion.

In a statement issued through state media Monday, the North Korean Foreign Ministry called the Freedom Shield exercise an "aggressive and confrontational war rehearsal" that risks triggering "physical conflict" on the Korean Peninsula.