Pentagon urges N. Korea to refrain from provocations

The U.S. military warned North Korea Sunday not to take provocative actions again, saying its recent missile launch was in breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

   "The onus is on North Korea to refrain from provocations," Army Col. Steven Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement emailed to Yonhap News Agency.

   He stressed that the U.S. should take North Korea's test-firing of four Scud missiles last week over the sea off its eastern coast seriously.

   The communist nation's move was apparently intended for a show of force against the ongoing South Korea-U.S. joint military drills.

   Col. Warren corrected his earlier comments that the North's is allowed to test short-range Scud missiles.

   "I erroneously noted that these resolutions allow for North Korea to fire short-range Scud missiles," he said. "That is not the case. UN Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874 ban N. Korea from launching any ballistic missile, and this includes any Scud missile."

   Scud missiles are a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

   The official said the Pentagon is closely monitoring the situation on the Korean Peninsula. 

   "We continue to urge North Korea to exercise restraint and take steps to improve its relations with its neighbors," he said. (Yonhap)