North Korea tested missiles over the weekend: US, South Korea | Al Jazeera

North Korea fired two missiles off its west coast over the weekend in its first publicly known weapons test since Joe Biden took office as president in January, officials in the United States said on Tuesday, as the administration said it remained open to talks with Pyongyang.

Two senior officials from the Biden administration told reporters in a briefing call that the North Korean activity involved weapons systems that were not covered by UN Security Council testing bans.

Two other US officials, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Reuters news agency that North Korea had fired two short-range missiles but declined to elaborate.

During a visit to Ohio, Biden told reporters, referring to the North Korean government: “We have learned that nothing much has changed.”

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Wednesday that North Korea had fired two cruise missiles off its west coast on Sunday, adding that it had been tracking the test.

“What they fired were cruise missiles, not ballistic missiles, and they were detected by our assets,” a source in the defence ministry was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.