Angry NKorea tests short-range missiles

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SEOUL, Mar 28 (AP): North Korea underscored its anger over South Korea's tough new stance toward the communist country with the test-firing of short-range missiles.
The launches Thursday night also came as the North issued a stern rebuke to Washington over an impasse at nuclear disarmament talks, warning the Americans' attitude could "seriously" affect the continuing disablement of Pyongyang's atomic facilities.
The missile tests were part of routine training, South Korean presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said, declining to give further details on the type of rockets fired. He told reporters Seoul was "closely monitoring the situation."
"I believe North Korea would also not want a strain in inter-Korean relations," Lee said.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, a conservative who took office last month, has said he would take a harder policy line on the North - a change from a decade of liberal Seoul governments who avoided confrontation to maintain a "sunshine policy" of engagement.
The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North's "short-range guided missile" firing was believed to be aimed at testing and improving the missile's performance. It did not give specifics, including exactly how many missiles were fired, saying such information belongs to military intelligence.
But South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported that North Korea launched three ship-to-ship missiles at around 9:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, citing unidentified government officials. News cable channel YTN, public broadcaster KBS and other media carried similar reports.