South Korea said it has scrambled 80 fighter jets after detecting around 180 North Korean warplanes near the military border between the two countries.

The North Korean aircraft flew north of the so-called tactical measure line, 12 miles north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), between 11am and 3pm local time, South Korea’s military said.

The South Korean response included F-35A stealth fighters.

About 240 aircraft taking part in the Vigilant Storm air exercises with the US continued the drills, the military said.

The manoeuvres came after North Korea fired more than 80 rounds of artillery into the sea overnight.

It also launched multiple missiles into the sea on Thursday, including possibly a banned intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which triggered evacuation warnings and halted bullet train services in Japan.

Japanese military lost track of the suspected ICBM over the water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, with South Korea saying it was likely to have failed.

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On Wednesday, the North fired an unprecedented 17 missiles in a single day, with one landing near the rivals’ tense sea border.

It was the first time a ballistic missile had landed near the South’s waters since the countries’ division in 1948.

The missile landed outside South Korea’s territorial waters, but south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed inter-Korean maritime border.

Hours before the missiles were launched, the North threatened to use nuclear weapons to get the US and South Korea to “pay the most horrible price in history” in protest over the two nations’ ongoing military drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.

Washington said the drills were “purely defensive in nature” and that the US had made clear to North Korea that it harboured no hostile intent towards the country.

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The UN Security Council will convene an emergency meeting on Friday following the surge in missile launches this week by North Korea.

In recent years the 15-member council has been split on how to deal with North Korea.

In May, China and Russia vetoed a US-led push to impose more UN sanctions in response to North Korean missile launches.

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