By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter

North Korea test-fired five short-range missiles off its east coast, Monday, hours after South Korea proposed inter-Korean talks on humanitarian issues, sources said.

"The missiles appear to be surface-to-surface ones and have been launched into the East Sea," a source from the Ministry of National Defense said. "The missiles were fired one after another after 8:00 p.m. from a base near the eastern coastal city of Wonsan."

North Korea had earlier issued a no-sail zone warning in waters off its east coast through Oct. 20 in an apparent notification of missile tests, the spokesman said.

The provocation comes as the international community is stepping up negotiations to resume the six-party talks on the reclusive country's nuclear program.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on an European tour, said in Belfast that the U.S. goal of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula remains unaffected by the tests.

Earlier in the day, the South Korean government proposed working-level talks to discuss ways of preventing floods near the inter-Korean border and Red Cross talks to deal with the issue of separated families.

Pyongyang has test-fired a string of missiles with a range of 100-200 kilometers since the United Nations imposed sanctions following a long-range rocket launch on April 5 and a nuclear test on May 25.

Last month, President Lee Myung-bak proposed a "one-shot" grand bargain deal with North Korea to resolve the nuclear issue quickly. However, the North snubbed it, saying solutions can be found only through direct talks with the United States.

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama expressed his full support for the grand bargain initiative at his summit with President Lee in Seoul last week.

jj@koreatimes.co.kr