SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired five short-range missiles into the sea Monday and declared a navigation ban in waters off its eastern and western coasts, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
The launches occurred a week after North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il suggested that his country would return to six-nation nuclear- disarmament talks if the North could first hold one- on-one talks with the United States to convert “hostile relations” into “peaceful ties.”
North Korea, a leading manufacturer and supplier of missiles and missile parts for the developing world, periodically fires short- and medium-range missiles into waters off both its coasts as part of training exercises. It was not clear if Monday’s launches were part of that routine.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, reacting to reports of the missile launches, said the United States and its allies were trying to demonstrate to North Korea that the international community would not accept its continuing nuclear program.
