North Korea provokes US with missile test

North Korea has let off a salvo of test missiles, issuing a defiant response to American demands for action over nuclear decommissioning and to a new conservative government in the South.

The launch of three, perhaps four, ship-to-ship missiles was confirmed by a South Korean presidential spokesman, who said they were part of routine military exercises.

But it was carried out the day after the North had expelled 13 South Korean businessmen from a special industrial zone which has been a show-piece of co-operation across the demilitarised zone that separates the two Cold War enemies.

The United States has also been pressing for faster action by the North in presenting a list of all its nuclear activities, promised in a deal to exchange aid for nuclear decommissioning signed by the two countries and four neighbours including South Korea last year.

It believes North Korea has in the past worked on a uranium enrichment programme, in addition to the plutonium-based programme which was used to create North Korea's first nuclear weapon.

But North Korea denies this, and in a statement coinciding with the missile shots, said further demands would damage the rest of the deal.

"If the US keeps insisting that what does not exist exists, and delays the settlement of the nuclear issue, it would have a serious impact on the disablement of nuclear facilities," a spokesman was quoted as saying.

He also denied American allegations that the North has co-operated with the nuclear programmes of other countries, such as Syria.

The White House said the tests were "not constructive" and urged Pyongyang to focus instead on dismantling its nuclear facilities.

The North is also likely to be angry with South Korea's new president, Lee Myung-bak, who has promised a tougher line on Pyongyang than his doveish predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun.