By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
North Korea fired four short-range missiles off its east coast, Thursday, hours after its talks with South Korea over the fate of their joint industrial park ended without progress, South Korea's defense ministry said.
``They appear to be ground-to-ship missiles, which were launched into the East Sea,'' ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae said. ``The missiles were fired one after another at 5:20 p.m., 6:00 p.m., 7:50 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. from a base near the eastern coastal city of Wonsan.''
Pyongyang has vowed to bolster its defense capability after the United Nations imposed sanctions following a long-range rocket launch on April 5 and a nuclear test on May 25. Defense analysts here have warned the North may fire a further series of missiles in the coming days.
Last month, the communist country also test-fired a string of short-range missiles off its east coast.
Earlier Thursday, working-level talks between the two Koreas over the joint industrial complex in the North Korean city of Gaeseong ended without an agreement or fixing a date for their next meeting.
In Beijing, a U.S. delegation, led by Philip Goldberg, the State Department's point man on coordinating implementation of U.N. sanctions on the North, met with Chinese foreign ministry officials.