North Korea fired five short-range rockets into the sea off its east coast Thursday, just as Pope Francis arrived in Seoul for a five-day visit.

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North Korea fired five short-range rockets into the sea off its east coast Thursday, just as Pope Francis arrived in Seoul for a five-day visit.

The launches began at 9:30 am (0030 GMT) at a site near the North's eastern port of Wonsan, with the rockets fired into the East Sea (Sea of Japan) at a maximum range of 220 kilometres (130 miles), a defence ministry spokesman said.

Three were fired in the morning and two in the afternoon, he said.

"They are presumed to have been fired from a 300-millimetre multiple rocket launcher," he said, adding that the military had stepped up vigilance along the heavily fortified border.

The pope is expected to send a message of peace to Pyongyang when he conducts a special inter-Korean "reconciliation" mass in Seoul next week on the last day of his visit.

Church officials in the South had sent several requests to Pyongyang to send a group of Catholics to attend the event, but the North declined the offer, citing its anger at upcoming South Korea-US military drills.

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