‘Very much under control’

US President Donald Trump on Thursday played down what appeared to be North Korea's third missile launch in just over week, saying they were short-range and "very standard" and would not affect his willingness to negotiate with Pyongyang.

South Korea's military said unidentified short-range projectiles were fired at 2:59 am and 3:23 am local time yesterday from North Korea's South Hamgyong Province into the East Sea.

A US official said US intelligence had detected at least one, and possibly multiple projectiles, that did not pose a threat to North America. US officials said initial information indicated the activity was similar to two other short-range missile tests by Pyongyang in the past eight days.

Trump, who has been hoping to revive denuclearization talks with North Korea, played down the launches, which have come in spite of his June 30 meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at which they agreed to revive stalled talks.

Asked at the White House before setting off for a campaign trip to Ohio if he thought Kim was testing him, Trump said the launches did not violate the North Korean leader's promises to him.

"I think it's very much under control, very much under control," he told reporters.

They were "short-range missiles," Trump said. "We never made an agreement on that. I have no problem. We'll see what happens. But these are short-range missiles. They are very standard."

Asked if he could still negotiate with Kim, he replied: "Oh, sure, sure. Because these are short-range missiles. We never discussed that. We discussed nuclear. What we talked about is nuclear. Those are short-range missiles. Sure, and a lot of other countries test that kind of missile also."

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles early on Wednesday, only days after it launched two similar missiles on July 25.