ANKARA

South Korea on Saturday condemned the latest suspected ballistic missile launch by North Korea and urged Pyongyang to stop acts that could heighten tension between the two countries, according to Yonhap News.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said in a statement that it strongly condemned the recent ballistic missile launch by North Korea, and expressed deep regret for Pyongyang's statement denouncing South Korea-US annual exercises held on Nov. 3-7 and Tuesday's defense chiefs meeting.

The ministry also called on Pyongyang to "immediately halt" all acts heightening tensions between the two countries.

The statement comes a day after the South Korean military said that North Korea fired a ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast on Friday.

In a separate statement, the US Forces Korea (USFK) also said it is aware of North Korea's ballistic missile launch and vowed to defend allies.

"We are consulting closely with the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Our focus is on maintaining the readiness required to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies in the region," the USFK said.

On Monday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, along with his South Korean counterpart Ahn Gyu-back, visited Korea’s Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea, on his maiden trip to South Korea. On Tuesday, the two sides also held their annual security consultative meeting.