SEOUL, Aug. 12 (Yonhap) -- The presidential office on Wednesday held an emergency meeting to address North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch, describing it as a provocation and calling for an immediate halt to such actions.

The emergency security assessment meeting of Cheong Wa Dae's national security office came shortly after North Korea fired at least one ballistic missile toward the East Sea earlier Wednesday.

The office discussed Seoul's responses to the missile launch, assessed its impact on national security and instructed officials to take necessary measures, Cheong Wa Dae said.

The office also voiced concerns over the North's back-to-back ballistic missile launches.

It said Pyongyang's ballistic missile launches constitute provocations in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions and called for an immediate halt to such launches.

Wednesday's meeting was also attended by officials from the defense ministry, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other relevant agencies.

The North's latest missile launch came six days after it fired a short-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Thursday.

The launches came as South Korea and the U.S. are set to begin their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise next week, which Pyongyang has strongly denounced as a rehearsal for war against the regime.

pbr@yna.co.kr

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