Reporting from Seoul — North Korea test-fired four short-range missiles Thursday, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry. The launches came just weeks after the reclusive state warned vessels to avoid its coastline due to projected military maneuvers.
The regime sent up what officials said were two anti-ship missiles that flew 60 miles before splashing down in the sea. Two more short-range projectiles were fired several hours later.
The latest launches follow a recent nuclear detonation and a flurry of missile tests by North Korea, apparently in response to proposals for tough new United Nations sanctions -- later imposed.
"This afternoon at 5:20 and 6 p.m., two short-range missiles were fired from Sinsang-ri," an official from the South Korean Defense Ministry told The Times.
The third missile was launched at 7:50 p.m. and the fourth at 9:50 p.m., said the official, who said he was not authorized to give his name because of the sensitivity of the information.
The launches came hours after Pyongyang ended unsuccessful talks with Seoul over the future of a joint industrial complex.
Tension on the Korean peninsula has increased since North Korea this spring launched a rocket it said carried a communications satellite. Experts insisted that the exercise was a disguised test of a long-range ballistic missile.
After the U.S., Japan and South Korea in response pressed for new sanctions by the U.N. Security Council, North Korea in May conducted an underground nuclear test.
Pyongyang also pulled out of the long-stalled six-nation talks aimed at coaxing North Korea to drop its ambitions to become a nuclear-armed state. North Korean officials also adopted a more strident stance toward South Korea and disowned the armistice signed at the end of the 1950s Korean conflict.
Anticipating the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile that news reports say could come as soon as the July 4 holiday, the U.S. has upgraded security in Hawaii, which officials believe is within range of the North Korean firepower.
A U.S. Navy destroyer in recent days has been following a North Korean freighter suspected of carrying nuclear materials. Pyongyang has said the interception of any of its ships would be a declaration of war.
On Thursday, a Seoul newspaper reported that North Korea was expected to fire a barrage of missiles soon, including several types Pyongyang has been banned from testing under U.N. resolutions.
Meanwhile, talks over the future of the joint industrial park at Kaesong, just over the North Korean border, ended after an hour without result or a date for future talks.
More than 100 South Korean-run factories there employ about 40,000 North Korean workers.
john.glionna@latimes.com
Ju-min Park in The Times' Seoul Bureau contributed to this report.
