North Korea has fire six short-range missiles into the sea, hours after the UN agreed to impose fresh new sanctions, South Korea has said.

A spokesperson for the South Korean defence ministry told the state-financed Yonhap news agency that the missiles were fired at about 10:00 local time (01:00 GMT) from a location near the east coast port city of Wonsan.

The launch of the missiles is being treated as an act of defiance by Pyongyang against the sanctions that had been unanimously approved by the UN Security Council earlier that day.

The UN sanctions were imposed in reaction to North Korea’s recent nuclear test and satellite launch, and will result in inspections for all cargo going in and out of the country. Under the sanctions, North Korea is banned from importing any goods, excluding food and medicine, which could be used by the North Korean military, as well as ships, planes, and various luxury items.