South Korea says North fires 6 missiles off east coast

The chief of U.S. Naval operations, Adm. Gary Roughead, said Saturday the American military was ready for any North Korean missile tests.

"Our ships and forces here are prepared for the tracking of the missiles and observing the activities that are going on," Roughead said after meeting Japanese military officials in Tokyo before the news of the launches.

South Korea and Japan, which are within easy range of North Korean missiles, condemned the launches as a "provocative" act that violates the U.N. resolution.

South Korea "expressed deep regret over the North's continuous behavior that escalates tensions in Northeast Asia by repeatedly defying" the resolution, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said in a statement that the launch of missiles "is a serious act of provocation against the security of neighboring countries, including Japan, and is against the resolution of the U.N Security Council."

In Beijing, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said he had no immediate comment. China is the North's closest ally.

During the U.S. Independence Day holiday in 2006, Pyongyang fired a barrage of missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2 that broke apart and fell into the ocean less than a minute after liftoff. Those launches also came amid tensions with the U.S. over North Korea's nuclear program.

A long-range missile launch by North Korea toward the United States would further flout the U.N. sanctions resolution punishing Pyongyang for its May 25 nuclear test. The U.S. last month said it had positioned more missile defenses around Hawaii as a precaution.

But spy satellites have apparently not detected any of the preparations that would normally precede such a launch.

The North wants to show Washington that it is not yielding to pressure, and the regime is likely to save a long-range launch for later, Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Seoul's Dongguk University and an expert on the country, said Friday.

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