North Korea fires missiles as US envoy visits Seoul

SEOUL: North Korea welcomed a US envoy’s visit to Seoul by firing two missiles on Thursday, the South’s military said, in Pyongyang’s second launch in less than a week as it seeks to up the ante in deadlocked nuclear negotiations with Washington.

It came after North Korea carried out a military drill and fired multiple projectiles on Saturday, with at least one believed to be a short-range missile. The North had not previously fired a missile since November 2017, shortly before a rapid diplomatic thaw eased high tensions on the peninsula and paved the way for a historic first meeting between its leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump.

But their second summit in Vietnam in February broke up without an agreement rolling back Pyongyang’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief or even a joint statement, leaving the North frustrated.

Thursday’s launch came hours after the US Special Representative on North Korea, Stephen Biegun, arrived in Seoul late on Wednesday for talks with South Korean officials, in his first visit since the Hanoi summit.