AGENCIES: North Korea launched at least two unidentified projectiles toward the sea on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, hours after the North offered to resume nuclear diplomacy with the United States.

The North’s projectile launches and demand for new proposals were apparently aimed at pressuring the United States to make concessions when the North Korea-US talks resume. North Korea is widely believed to want the United States to provide it with security guarantees and extensive relief from US-led sanctions in return for limited denuclearization steps.

The North Korean projectiles were fired from South Phyongan province, which surrounds the capital city of Pyongyang, in the direction of the waters off the North’s east coast, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defence Ministry.

The military said South Korea will monitor possible additional launches by North Korea but gave no further details like exactly what projectile North Korea fired.

Tuesday’s launches were the eighth since late July and the first since August 24. The previous seven launches have revealed short-range missile and rocket artillery systems that experts say would potentially expand the country’s ability to strike targets throughout South Korea, including US military bases there.