North Korea, October 12: North Korea has test-fired five short-range missiles off its east coast and banned ships from the area from October 10-20, a South Korean official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a Yonhap news agency report of the launches from south of Musudan-ri on the northeast coast today.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff refused to comment. Yonhap said the “no-sail” zone covered both the east and west coasts.
The agency quoted military experts as saying the launches appear to be part of regular military exercises.
But they did not rule out the possibility that Pyongyang is demonstrating its firepower for political purposes.
The launches were the first reported since early July, and come amid international efforts to bring the North back to six-nation nuclear disarmament talks.
The communist state has frequently launched short-range missiles off its east and west coasts in recent years.
South Korean defence officials describe these as part of military exercises but the launches are sometimes timed to make a political point.
Pyongyang quit the six-party forum in April and staged its second nuclear test in May.
Last week the North told visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao it was willing to return to the six-party talks which it quit in April, but only after direct negotiations with the United States.
Washington has said it is ready for bilateral talks, but merely to persuade the North to return to the multilateral forum. It has not set a date for any meeting.
On July 2 the North fired four short-range missiles believed to be surface-to-ship types.
It followed these with a salvo of seven longer-range ballistic missiles on July 4, US Independence Day, attracting sharp criticism from the United Nations.
—Agencies