N. Korea fires missiles, rejects further talks with South

SEOUL (AFP) – North Korea fired what appeared to be two shortrange missiles into the sea on Friday and launched a scathing attack on “foolish’’ calls for dialogue from South Korean President Moon Jae-in, rejecting further peace talks with Seoul.

It was the sixth round of launches in recent weeks in protest at ongoing joint military drills between Seoul and the US North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has described the tests as a ''solemn warning’’ to the South.

Pyongyang has routinely expressed

anger at the war games, which it considers rehearsals for invasion, but in the past has avoided carrying out tests while the maneuvers are taking place.

The South Korean military said the projectiles were fired from near the city of Tongchon, and flew some 230 kilometers (140 miles) before falling into the Sea of Japan, which is also known as the East Sea.

They were “presumed to be shortrange ballistic missiles,’’ an official of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP, while further analysis was required to confirm that.

The latest test came as the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country said it rejected comments by Moon on Thursday outlining his desire for unification, and said it had nothing more to discuss with the South.

It called Moon – who has long favored dialogue with the North – an ‘’impudent guy rare to be found’’, for hoping for a resumption of inter-Korean talks while continuing military drills with Washington.

In a speech on Thursday marking the anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 rule, Moon outlined a goal of ‘’achieving peace and unification by 2045,’’ although his single five-year term ends in 2022.

‘’His speech deserves the comments ‘foolish commemorative speech’,’’ the North said in its statement.

“We have nothing to talk any more with the south Korean authorities nor have any idea to sit with them again,’’ it added.

Seoul’s Unification Ministry said the North’s comments are not “1consistent’’ with the spirit of inter-Korean agreements, including the Panmunjom Declaration signed by Moon and Kim in April last year.

‘’We want to clearly point out that (the comments) won’t help the improvement of inter-Korean relations at all,’’ a ministry official added.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the South was ‘’monitoring the situation in case of additional launches while maintaining a readiness posture.’’

South Korean authorities are “snooping about to fish in troubled waters in the future DPRK-US dialogue,’’ the North’s statement said Friday, “dreaming that the phase of dialogue would naturally arrive’’ once the joint Seoul-Washington military drills are over.

But Moon ‘’had better drop that senseless lingering attachment,’’ it said.