By Kim Yeon-hee
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired up to two short-range missiles off its west coast on Thursday, said U.S. and South Korean officials, prompting quick U.S. criticism of Pyongyang over the second such launch in as many weeks.
The launch occurred a day after U.S. President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed at a bilateral meeting there were limits to their patience with Pyongyang's failure to honour a nuclear disarmament agreement.
"What I have been advised is that it (was) a cruise missile test," White House National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters. "We saw I think in the last week or 10 days a similar test."
A South Korean Defence Ministry official confirmed reclusive communist North Korea had fired at least one missile but could not specify the exact number or type.
White House National Security spokesman Gordon Johndroe said North Korea's missile test activity was "not constructive" and Pyongyang should focus on dismantling its nuclear programme.
"The United States and our allies believe that North Korea should refrain from testing missiles," Johndroe said in a statement to reporters on the sidelines of a Group of Eight (G8) summit in Heiligendamm, Germany.
BARRAGE
North Korea fired a barrage of long and short range missiles last year, triggering United Nations sanctions. It drew more punitive measures with its first nuclear test in October. Continued...
North Korea test-fired several short-range missiles off its west coast, South Korea's Yonhap news service reported today.

"I believe North Korea launched two missiles into the West Sea today, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon," an unnamed South Korean intelligence official was quoted as saying by Yonhap, the South Korean government news service. The official added that the rockets were either a surface-to-ship type or a ship-to-ship type, both with a range of less than 100 kilometers (60 miles), and landed in North Korean territory.

"North Korea conducts this kind of missile test several times a year," the official was quoted as saying. "We saw the test as part of a routine military exercise."

The last missile test was on May 25, which at the time South Korean and US officials said was routine.

But the latest launches occurred a day after US President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on the G8 nations to put more pressure on North Korea to comply with an international agreement to shut down its main nuclear reactor.

The U.S. criticized today's launch as "not constructive."

"The United States and our allies believe that North Korea should refrain from testing missiles," US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement from the G8 summit in Heiligendamm, Germany. "North Korea should focus on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and fulfill its obligations," Johndroe said, mentioning an international agreement North Korea made on Feb. 13 that it would to shut down its main nuclear reactor in return for financial and diplomatic incentives.