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Report: North Korea test-fires missiles
North Korea fired short-range missiles off its western coast, reports say
South Korea is trying to confirm reports of the missile launches

S. Korea's presidential office said launches just part of "ordinary military training"

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- North Korea fired short-range missiles off its western coast Friday, a South Korean defense source said, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

The South Korean Defense Ministry and Joint Chiefs of Staff told CNN they were trying to confirm reports of the missile launches.

South Korea's presidential office dismissed reports of the missile launches as part of "ordinary military training" by the communist state.

"The government regards North Korea's missile firing as merely a part of its ordinary military training," presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told Yonhap.

"The South Korean government will just continue to watch the missile-related situation carefully," he said. "We're convinced that North Korea doesn't want inter-Korean relations to deteriorate."

Washington urged caution following the reports. "The United States believes that North Korea should refrain from testing missiles," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

"This kind of activity is not constructive. North Korea should focus on the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and deliver a complete and correct declaration of all its nuclear weapons programs and nuclear proliferation activities, and to complete the agreed disablement."

The reported firings came a day after the Seoul government pulled 11 of its diplomats from an industrial park the two countries operate in North Korea.

Their departure followed comments made last week by South Korean Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong.

He said it would be hard to expand the industrial complex without North Korean progress on denuclearization.

North Korea cited the minister's remarks as a reason for demanding that the South Korean diplomats leave, Yonhap reported.