U.S. calls for DPRK steps to ease tensions

The United States on Monday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to move toward eased tensions on the Korean Peninsula amid latest reports of missile fires by the east Asian country.

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the launches, if confirmed, "would represent a threat to regional peace and security and would be a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions."

"I'm not going to speak to their intentions, of course, but would encourage them to do just the opposite, to take steps to lower tensions, to not raise them certainly as this way have done, " she told reporters at a daily news briefing.

Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok of the Republic of Korea said the DPRK fired two missiles, estimated to be Scud-C ballistic missiles, into its eastern waters earlier in the day.

The firings came as ROK and the U.S. started their joint annual military exercises named "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle" despite strong opposition from Pyongyang.

The DPRK denounced the war games that began Monday as " dangerous nuclear war drills for invading the DPRK as they are aimed at swiftly hurling and forward-deploying the U.S. imperialist aggressor forces in contingency on the Korean Peninsula." Endite