SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles into its Eastern Sea on Tuesday, the South Korean military said, as the country continued weapons demonstrations hours before the U.S. presidential election.

South Korea's chief of staff initially did not provide any information on the number of missiles discovered or their flight range. Japan's Defense Ministry said the missiles were believed to have already landed at sea and there were no immediate reports of damage.

The launch came days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a flight test of the country's newest intercontinental ballistic missile, which was intended to reach the U.S. mainland. In response to that launch, the United States flew a B-1B long-range bomber on Sunday in a trilateral exercise with South Korea and Japan in a show of force. This was condemned by Kim's powerful sister, who on Tuesday accused the northern rivals of raising tensions through “aggressive and adventurous military threats.”

The latest missile attacks came after South Korean officials said the North would step up military operations around the U.S. presidential election to attract Washington's attention. South Korean military intelligence said last week that North Korea had also likely completed preparations for its seventh nuclear test.

Outside officials and analysts say North Korea eventually hopes to use an expanded nuclear arsenal as leverage to secure outside concessions, such as sanctions relief, after the election of a new U.S. president.

There are widespread views that Kim would prefer a victory for Republican candidate Donald Trump, with whom he conducted high-risk nuclear diplomacy in 2018-19, as he sees him as a more likely opponent to give him what he wants than in the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. On the campaign trail, Trump bragged about his personal ties to Kim, while Harris said she would “not put up with tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un who support Trump.”

North Korean state media claimed last week that the Hwasong-19, tested on October 31, was “the most powerful” ICBM in the world. However, experts say the solid-fuel rocket is too large to be useful in a war situation. Experts say the North still needs to acquire some crucial technologies to build a functioning ICBM, such as ensuring the warhead can survive the harsh conditions of re-entry into the atmosphere.

Tensions between the Koreas are at their highest in years as Kim has reportedly repeatedly flaunted his expanding nuclear weapons and missile programs Providing ammunition and troops to Russia to support President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.

North Korea is estimated to have transferred a total of between 10,000 and 12,000 troops to Russia, according to U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence agencies. If they begin fighting Ukraine's armed forces, it would be North Korea's first involvement in a large-scale conflict since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

On Monday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that up to 10,000 North Korean troops were in Russia's Kursk region, near the border with Ukraine, preparing to join Moscow's fight against Ukraine in the coming days to connect. That is more than the 8,000 soldiers that the US government announced on Thursday.

After a meeting in Seoul on Monday, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell expressed “deep concern” about the possibility of Russia transferring any nuclear or ballistic missile technology to the North in return for its weapons and military personnel.

Such transfers would “jeopardize international nonproliferation efforts and jeopardize peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and around the world,” they said, calling on North Korea and Russia to immediately withdraw troops from Russia.

In response to North Korea's increasing nuclear threat, South Korea, the United States and Japan have expanded their joint military exercises and updated their nuclear deterrence plans based on U.S. strategic assets.

North Korea has portrayed its rivals' joint military exercises as rehearsals for an invasion and used them to justify its relentless pursuit of nuclear weapons and missiles.

At a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday, North Korea's Ambassador Kim Song defended Pyongyang's nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile programs as essential to the country's self-defense and a necessary response to what it perceives as a nuclear threat from the United States. He stressed that North Korea will accelerate the buildup of “our nuclear forces that can counter any threat from hostile nuclear-armed states.”

U.S. Deputy Ambassador Robert Wood warned that the U.S. cannot “without response” shy away from North Korea's expanding nuclear and ballistic missile programs and the growing threat to U.S. security.

Wood also reiterated last week's call for Russia to say whether North Korean troops were on the ground in Russia. “We are not in a court here,” Russian Deputy Ambassador Anna Evstigneeva responded, “and I have no intention of answering the United States’ questions in the sense of an interrogation.”

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Associated Press writers Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.