North Korea on Thursday fired a short-range ballistic missile toward the Yellow Sea, located between the mainland and the Korean Peninsula, South Korea's military said.

The launch follows a statement on Tuesday by Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong Un, that any move to shoot down one of North Korea's test missiles would be considered a declaration of war.

The missile was fired at about 5:20pm Hong Kong time from around the North Korean city of Nampo, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Pyongyang blamed a joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea for growing tensions, state media KCNA said.

The United States and South Korea will conduct large-scale military exercises known as the "Freedom Shield" drills starting next week.

"Since September 2022, North Korea has timed its missile launches and military demonstrations to counter US-South Korea exercises probably to attempt to coerce the United States and South Korea to change their behaviour," US intelligence agencies said in a threat assessment report on Wednesday. (Reuters)