Pyongyang fires missiles into sea: unconfirmed report by Martina Janeckova

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, 8 October that North Korea has fired two short-range missiles into the Yellow Sea as a part of routine military training. “We understand North Korea fired two short-range missiles in the afternoon of (October) 7th into the (Yellow) Sea,” Yonhap quoted an unidentified South Korean official. “North Korea declared a no-sail order in the (Yellow Sea) before the missile launch,” the official said. South Korean and U.S. defense officials would not confirm the report. However, analysts say that North Korea has a history of timing its missile launches to periods of increased tension in the region. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said he was unable to confirm the reports, but said firing such missiles was “not helpful in any way in managing tensions within the region.” Last week a senior U. S. diplomat went to Pyongyang trying to convince North Korea to return to a disarmament-for-aid deal and stop its plans to restart the nuclear plant Yongbyon. Last month North Korea announced that after not being removed from a U. S. terrorism list, it will rebuild the Yongbyon nuclear plant. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill went to North Korea to talk about the system to verify North Korean nuclear assets. Washington said it would take the North Korea off the terrorism list once a system had been agreed to verify its nuclear claims. A senior Vienna diplomat familiar with North Korea and U.N. monitoring there said Hill probably received a significant proposal from the North Koreans, who may be trying to squeeze concessions from the Bush administration before it leaves office.

by Martina Janeckova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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edited by Beata Biskova