SEOUL - SOUTH Korea says North Korea has fired a seventh missile off its eastern coast.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff say six missiles were fired earlier on Saturday and the seventh around 5.40pm (4.40pm Singapore time). The launches come two days after North Korea fired four short-range missiles. The test-firing could further escalate tensions in the region as the US tries to muster support for tough enforcement of a UN resolution imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency quotes military officials as saying the missiles fired on Saturday appear to be Scuds. South Korea's military said North Korea's Scuds are considered short-range. The launches off its east coast further fuelled regional tensions after the communist state's nuclear test in May. They came as Washington seeks support for tough enforcement of United Nations sanctions aimed at shutting down the North's nuclear and missile programmes.

Seoul's foreign ministry said the first four weapons launched into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) were ballistic missiles, which the North is banned from firing under various Security Council resolutions. Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the latest missile, fired at 2.50pm (1.50pm), was of the same type as the first four. It was the first time in three years that the North fired multiple ballistic missiles.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said they had a range of between 400 and 500 km but declined to say what type they were. Yonhap news agency said they were either Scuds, or Rodong-1 missiles whose maximum range of 1,300 km had been shortened.

The North on Thursday test-fired four short-range missiles with a range of 120 km into the Sea of Japan. The latest launches, which started at 8 am, were seen as more provocative since the missiles could potentially reach most of South Korea, and possibly parts of Japan.

'The military, on the basis of a strong joint defence alliance with the United States, is fully prepared to fend off any threats or provocations by the North,' the Joint Chiefs said in a statement.

The foreign ministry said the missiles were fired from a site at Kitdaeryong near the eastern port of Wonsan. It said the 'provocative act... clearly violates' three UN Security Council resolutions, including the latest one on June 12 which toughened weapons-related sanctions on the North in response to its May 25 nuclear test.

In a statement the ministry expressed 'deep regret over North Korea's continued acts to escalate tensions in Northeast Asia.' Professor Kim Yong-Hyun of Seoul's Dongguk University said the launches were clearly timed to coincide with US Independence Day.

'This is a thinly veiled warning to the United States and the international community that it may launch long-range missiles next time,' he told AFP. 'The North is exercising salami tactics, firing short-range missiles on Thursday and launching missiles with longer range today.' -- AFP

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