U.S. says N.Korea missile tests "not constructive"
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House urged North Korea not to conduct any further missile tests, calling such action "not constructive," after Pyongyang test-fired a battery of short-range missiles on Friday.
"The United States believes that North Korea should refrain from testing missiles. This kind of activity is not constructive," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, responding to Pyongyang's move, seen by analysts as a show of anger at Washington and the new government in Seoul.
The White House called on North Korea instead to make good on it agreement to move toward nuclear disarmament.
"North Korea should focus on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and deliver a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear weapons programs, and nuclear proliferation activities and to complete the agreed disablement," Johndroe said.
The missile launch came a day after the North expelled South Korean officials from a joint industrial complex north of the border, after Seoul told its destitute neighbor to clean up its human rights record and stop dragging its feet in nuclear disarmament talks if it wants to receive aid.
In Seoul, a South Korean presidential spokesman said the North had fired short-range missiles as a part of a military exercise. Local news reports said the three were ship-to-ship missiles launched into the sea off the west coast.
(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick, editing by Patricia Wilson)
