Reports: DPRK test-fires 2 short-range missiles

North Korean soldiers gestures to a Chinese tourist boat from a outpost along the China-North Korea border near Hekou, northeastern China's Liaoning province, Tuesday, May 26, 2009. North Korea claimed it carried out a powerful underground nuclear test Monday (Agencies)

DPRK launched tests Tuesday of two more short-range missiles a day after conducting a nuclear test, news reports said, pushing the regime's confrontation with world powers further despite the threat of U.N. Security Council action.

Two missiles — one ground-to-air, the other ground-to-ship — with a range of about 80 miles (130 kilometers) were test-fired Tuesday from an east coast launch pad, the Yonhap news agency and YTN television reported, citing unnamed South Korean officials.

South Korea's spy chief, Won Sei-hoon, had informed lawmakers earlier Tuesday that North Korea appeared to be preparing to test-fire more missiles, according to Park Young-sun, a legislator who attended the closed-door session.

Pyongyang also test-fired three short-range missiles Monday in the hours after conducting an underground nuclear test in the northeast, Yonhap said.

The Security Council called Monday's underground atomic test in northeastern North Korea a "clear violation" of a 2006 resolution banning the regime from developing its nuclear program and has begun working on a new resolution that could mean stronger sanctions.

France called for new sanctions while the U.S. and Japan pushed for strong action against North Korea for testing a bomb that Russian officials said compares in power to those that obliterated Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

DPRK had threatened in recent weeks to carry out a nuclear test and fire long-range missiles unless the Security Council apologized for condemning Pyongyang's April 5 launch of a rocket the U.S., Japan and other nations called a test of its long-range missile technology.

(Agencies)