By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, July 3, 2009

TOKYO, July 2 -- North Korea on Thursday continued to rattle its neighbors by firing four short-range missiles into waters off its east coast.

The missile tests, monitored by the South Korean government, had been widely expected, as North Korea had warned ships to avoid the east coast through July 10 because of military exercises.

The four missiles were fired in the late afternoon and early evening from a base near the eastern coastal city of Wonsan, a South Korean defense spokesman told the South Korean news agency Yonhap. Other South Korean officials said the missiles splashed into the sea about 60 miles from the launch site.

South Korean military officials have told news media in Seoul that the North may be preparing to launch a number of midrange missiles in coming days, perhaps to taunt the United States on its Fourth of July holiday.

Tension has been building in Northeast Asia since early spring, when North Korea launched a long-range missile over Japan. In late May, it detonated its second nuclear bomb, which prompted a new round of U.N. sanctions and worldwide condemnation, even from the North's traditional allies, China and Russia.

In furious reaction to the sanctions, the government of Kim Jong Il vowed last month that it would never give up nuclear weapons and would begin making a lot more of them, using enriched uranium. Before this threat, the North had repeatedly denied having a program to enrich uranium.

Many analysts attribute North Korea's recent brandishing of hardware and its many warnings of "merciless" war to a succession drama now underway in Pyongyang.

Kim, 67, who suffered a stroke last summer and looks sickly, is believed to be positioning his third son, Jong Un, 26, to take over as leader of the communist state.

The highly visible belligerence of recent months, analysts say, may be for local consumption, as Kim demonstrates to members of his inner circle that Jong Un would be a strong leader.

In any case, North Korea has threatened to launch another long-range missile in the near future. After a Japanese newspaper reported last month that the North would aim such a missile at Hawaii and would fire it on July 4, the U.S. military increased its defenses around the Hawaiian islands.

But North Korea is believed to need at least several days of preparation before a long-range launch, and no such preparations have yet been observed, according to media reports in Seoul.

North Korea has a history of firing short-range missiles into the sea when the United States and other countries are moving to impose or enforce sanctions against it. North Korea test-fired five of them in the week after its May 25 nuclear test, as the U.N. Security Council formulated new sanctions.

The U.S. government has pressed in recent days to enforce some of those sanctions by moving to cut off financing for North Korea's trade in missiles and nuclear programs. It has also moved to crack down on companies suspected of selling equipment that could be used in the programs.

The United States is urging China, the North's largest trading partner, to enforce the new sanctions. While China has harshly criticized the North's recent nuclear test, it remains unclear if it will follow through on sanctions. China's trade with North Korea has soared since 2006, when the U.N. Security Council imposed sanctions against Pyongyang for its first nuclear tests.

Philip Goldberg, who leads a U.S. government effort to implement the new sanctions, met in Beijing on Thursday with Chinese officials.

The United States has also been tracking a North Korean ship that was suspected of carrying illicit weapons. That ship, once thought to be headed for a port in Burma, changed course this week and may be returning to North Korea.

New sanctions allow states to seize banned weapons and technology found aboard North Korean ships, but they do not authorize the use of force.

North Korea warned that any move to seize its ships would trigger a military response.