North Korea fires short-range missiles

TOKYO, May 25 (Reuters) North Korea fired several short-range missiles today, even as the United States sounded optimistic about getting six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear arms programme back on track.

South Korea's spy agency confirmed reports of the missile launches, which Japan's Nippon Television said were surface-to-ship types.

A South Korean National Intelligence Agency official said the launch was thought to be part of an annual military drill, and Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted officials in Tokyo as saying the missiles would not pose a threat to Japan's security.

NHK said the missiles were fired from both the east and west coasts of North Korea.

Under a February deal, Pyongyang agreed to begin work to scrap its nuclear weapons programme, but it has demanded that formerly frozen funds in a Macau bank be transferred to North Korea first.

The 25 million dollars at Banco Delta Asia were blocked after the United States blacklisted the bank, accusing it of laundering illicit North Korean funds.

''If they were fired towards the Sea of Japan, it may be a sign that they are unhappy that the Banco Delta Asia funds are not being transferred,'' Toshimitsu Shigemura, professor at Waseda University, told Nippon Television, referring to the funds issue.

''Last time, the missiles were long-range, but this time they are short-range, which may mean they don't mean to surprise too much.

They only want to attract attention.'' Pyongyang fired a salvo of missiles in July last year that included one long-range missile and several short-range missiles.

Earlier today, the top US envoy on North Korea's nuclear issue said Washington was hopeful North Korea would meet a commitment to shut down its nuclear facilities this month after it received the frozen funds.

''I do believe the DPRK (North Korea) continues to signal to us privately and publicly, and most recently last night, that as soon as the banking matter is resolved, they will move quickly to implement their part of the deal,'' US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said.

''I am expecting it very soon. I expected that last month, and hopefully we can get that done this month,'' said Hill, who was in Manila for preparatory meetings for an August summit of Asia's largest security bloc.

REUTERS RJ BD1556