SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea's military said today that North Korea fired unidentified projectiles twice into the Sea of Japan in its third weapons test in just over a week.
The Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the launches were conducted from an eastern coastal area, but they did not immediately confirm how many projectiles were fired or how far they flew.
The North also fired short-range ballistic missiles July 25 and conducted what it described as a test firing of a new multiple rocket launcher system Wednesday.
A report Thursday by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency differed from the assessment by South Korea's military, which had concluded that Wednesday's launches were of two short-range ballistic missiles.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was not alarmed by the previous two test firings.
He told reporters at the White House that North Korea was firing "short-range missiles" that are "very standard." He said a lot of countries have short-range missiles.
The United Kingdom, France and Germany condemned the two earlier tests as violations of U.N. sanctions and urged Pyongyang to engage in "meaningful negotiations" with the United States on eliminating its nuclear weapons.
The three countries also urged North Korea "to take concrete steps toward its complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization" and said international sanctions should remain in place and be fully enforced until its nuclear and ballistic missile programs are dismantled.
The U.K., France and Germany issued a joint statement to reporters after a closed Security Council briefing by U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo and consultations. The council did not issue any statement.
Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky told reporters before the meeting that "we still have very little information. Was it a ballistic missile or not ballistic missile? What was the launch? How many were launched?"
He said Russia tries to base its position "on trustworthy sources," and "I don't think we should rush to any conclusions to this."
Under U.N. sanctions, North Korea is barred from using ballistic missiles.
Experts say the North is demonstrating its frustration over planned U.S.-South Korea military exercises and stalled nuclear negotiations with the United States and that its weapons tests could intensify if negotiations do not proceed rapidly over the next few months.
Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Thursday that the Trump administration remains ready to resume talks with North Korea, although he said a meeting between the two sides is unlikely at an Asian security conference this week in Thailand.
Pompeo said he and the administration's chief negotiator Stephen Biegun had hoped to meet with a senior North Korean official while in Bangkok for the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations forum. No such meeting had been formally scheduled and the North's foreign minister was not expected at the three-day event in the Thai capital, and Pompeo said it looked increasingly like those hopes would be dashed.
"We stand ready to continue our diplomatic conversation with the North Koreans," Pompeo told reporters at a joint news conference with the Thai foreign minister. "I regret that it looks like I'm not going to have the opportunity to do that while I'm here in Bangkok, but we're ready to go."
The annual security meeting has been used in the past as a venue for U.S.-North Korea talks and although the North had signaled that its top diplomat would not attend this year, Pompeo had held out hope for a change of heart.
Despite the apparent stand-up by the North, Pompeo said he believed a new round of working level talks led by Biegun and his North Korean counterpart could happen soon.
"I am optimistic that that will happen before too long," he said. "We're looking forward to a chance to reconnect with them in a formal way diplomatically."
Biegun was present in Pompeo's meeting Thursday with Chinese state councilor Wang Yi, and the State Department said he was in Bangkok for North Korea-related meetings but did not elaborate.
Information for this article was contributed by Edith M. Lederer of The Associated Press.
A Section on 08/02/2019