Story Highlights • North Korea test-fires several missiles
• Not known how many or what kind of devices
• Intelligence officials tell Yonhap news agency they were short-range
Adjust font size:
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea test-fired several short-range missiles Thursday off its west coast, South Korea's defense ministry officials told CNN.
The test comes nearly two weeks after Pyongyang test-fired a short-range missile off its east coast.
Short-range missiles have an approximate range between 90 and 500 miles (150-800km), according to the U.S. State Department.
After North Korea's May 25 missile test, U.S. envoy Christopher Hill said "this is not unusual."
"From time to time, their military tests these short range missiles," Hill told reporters.
"It is obviously not anything that is ever going to contribute to their security, and we would prefer they spend their time figuring out how to denuclearize and how to join the international community. But this is not unusual."
Hill is the chief U.S. negotiator for talks on North Korea's nuclear program.
CNN Seoul Bureau Chief Sohn Jie-Ae contributed to this report
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.