North Korea shoots missiles, US says it is 'normal testing'

WASHINGTON: The United States has said that the multiple short-range missiles fired by North Korea over the weekend was a part of "normal testing", and not in violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

US President Joe Biden has said he does not consider North Korea's launch of short-range missiles as a provocation.

Pyongyang fired two cruise missiles off its west coast on Sunday, Yonhap news agency cited military sources in Seoul as saying. The launch is the first since Biden took office. Biden said defence officials called it "business as usual", the BBC reported on Wednesday.

The test on Sunday came in the wake of joint military exercises by the armed forces of South Korea and the US. The nine-day command exercise, which did not include field training, ended on Thursday last week.

"We've learned nothing much has changed," US President Joe Biden told reporters in Columbus, Ohio, when he was asked about the missile tests, DPA news agency reported.

The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, had condemned the military exercises and accused the new US administration of wanting to cause trouble as a first step.

The nuclear nation is banned from testing ballistic missiles by UN resolutions and has been slapped with tough international sanctions to deter it from continuing to develop rockets that could be equipped with nuclear warheads.

The sanctions imposed as a result of the weapons program are hampering North Korea's economic development.

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