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North Korea has fired seven ground-to-air missiles into the sea, South Korea's defence ministry says, the BBC reported.

It comes on the last day of an annual US-South Korea military exercise.

Leader Kim Jong-un was present during the launch on Thursday off the eastern coast, a ministry spokesman from the South said.

The annual exercises, which Pyongyang calls a rehearsal for invasion, are always a trigger for a surge in tensions between the two Koreas.

North Korea showed its opposition to this year's drills by firing two short-range ballistic missiles when they began earlier this month.

South Korea said the missiles fired on Friday were believed to be SA-2 or SA-3s, with a range of "dozens of kilometres", as well as one SA-5 with a range of 200km (120 miles).

"We see this as another show of force by the North related to the exercises," a spokesman told AFP news agency.

There were no reports of tests in North Korean media.