SEOUL, MAY 25, SPA -- North Korea fired severalshort-range guided missiles into the sea off its east coastFriday in an apparent test launch, South Korean officialsand media reports said. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed thelaunches, but said it was still investigating how manymissiles were fired. The launches were apparently part ofannual exercises conducted by the North, AP QUOTED the Joint Chiefsas saying in a statement. «The short-range missile launches are believed to be partof a routine exercise that North Korea has conductedannually on the east and the west coasts in the past,» thestatement said. The missiles were fired from the communist country's eastcoast into the sea between Japan and the Korean peninsula,a Joint Chiefs official said on condition of anonymity,citing official protocol. Japan's public broadcaster and other media, citingJapanese and U.S. sources, reported the missiles weresurface-to-ship. Japan's Defense Ministry and ForeignMinistry could not immediately confirm the reports, butwere investigating. Analysts and media reports said the North's test was inresponse to South Korea's launch of its first destroyerequipped with high-tech Aegis radar technology on Friday. South Korea is now one of only five countries armed withthe technology, which will greatly enhance the South'sability to locate, track and shoot down North Koreanaircraft and missiles. «North Korea fired them as a warning to South Korea'sdeployment of Aegis-equipped destroyer,» said ToshimitsuShigemura, an expert on North Korean issues at Japan'sWaseda University. «This shows North Korea, whose navy israther small, is extremely alarmed.» South Korea's Yonhap news agency cited an unidentifiedUnification Ministry official as saying the tests would notstrain ties because they were apparently part of regularexercises. North and South Korea are planning to holdCabinet level talks on reconciliation efforts next week inSeoul. «I understand that North Korea test fires short rangemissiles every year. It's not likely to have any immediateeffect on inter-Korean relations,» the official was quotedas saying.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/452932