The missiles were test-fired from the east coast of North Korea [AFP]

News of the latest tests came just hours after Pyongyang launched two missiles from the country's east coast, a South Korean defence ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

Yonhap, quoting an unnamed military official, reported that three of the missiles flew about 100km and were KN-01 missiles with a range of up to 160km.

Leonid Petrov, a North Korean specialist from the Australian National University, said: "We had been expecting the test fire of a medium-range missile in early July.

"These were short-range missiles, which are a defensive measure, and may have been done ... to impress [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-il who was visiting."

Growing tensions

North Korea had earlier issued a no-sail zone in waters off its east coast through July 10.

The move comes a week after the US extended economic sanctions against North Korea for another year as tensions grew over the communist state's nuclear activities.

Barack Obama, the US president, moved to prolong restrictions on property dealings with the North that were due to expire on June 26.

Obama said he acted "because the existence and risk of the proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean peninsula continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States".

Despite the Obama administration saying that it would welcome fresh talks with the North, relations between the two continue to deteriorate amid international condemnation and sanctions in response to its recent nuclear test, and defiant rhetoric from Pyongyang.

Recommend this article...

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto: