The spokesman said in a statement that the DPRK remains unchanged in its will to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula in a negotiated peaceful manner just as it committed itself in the Sept. 19 joint statement of the six-party talks, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The latest missile launch exercises are quite irrelevant to the six-party talks, the statement said.

The KCNA also quoted the spokesman as saying that the missile launches were "successful" and that "the DPRK's exercise of its legitimate right as a sovereign state is neither bound to any international law nor to bilateral or multilateral agreements such as DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration and the joint statement of the six-party talks."

"The missile test moratorium reached between the DPRK and the United States in 1999 was valid only when the DPRK-U.S. dialogue was under way," it said.

The Bush administration, however, has scrapped all the agreements its preceding governments reached with the DPRK and "totally scuttled" the bilateral dialogue, said the statement.

It noted it was the same case with the DPRK-Japan Pyongyang Declaration in 2002 on the long-range missile test-fire.

In the Declaration, the DPRK expressed its "intention to extend beyond 2003 the moratorium on the missile fire," a step taken on the premise that Japan moved to "normalize its relations with the DPRK and redeem its past, the statement said.

However, the Japanese authorities didn't honor their commitment. Moreover, they have pursued a hostile policy toward the DPRK together with the U.S. and chosen to internationalize the "abduction issue" although the DPRK had fully settled the issue.

"It is a manifestation of the DPRK's broad magnanimity that it has put on hold the missile launch so far under this situation," the statement added.

It also said the joint statement released after the six-party talks in Beijing last September, which involves the DPRK, South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States, has stipulated the commitments to be fulfilled by the six sides to the talks to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.

But Washington imposed financial sanctions against the DPRK soon after the meeting and continued putting pressures on it on all fronts, said the statement.

"It is clear to everyone that there is no need for the DPRK to unilaterally put on hold the missile launch under such situation," the statement said.

The spokesman also said the Korean People's Army will go on with missile launch exercises as part of its efforts to bolster deterrent for self-defense in the future, the statement added.

Defense and intelligence officials in Seoul, Tokyo and Washington were quoted by media as saying that the DPRK test-fired seven missiles of different ranges on Wednesday.

Paris, which currently chairs the United Nations Security Council, has decided to "launch immediate consultations aimed at addressing a firm and united response from the international community to North Korea," the ministry said.

France "urges North Korea to respect the moratorium it declared in 1999" on long-range missile tests, the statement said, describing North Korea as a "major contributor to the proliferation of missiles across the world.

"North Korea's attitude goes against efforts aimed at ensuring stability and security in northeast Asia, and in particular talks on the nuclear question.

"Our aim remains the complete, irreversible and verifiable dismantlement of North Korea's military nuclear programme," the foreign ministry said.

North Korea test-fired seven missiles early Wednesday, including one capable of reaching US soil, although all splashed down in the Sea of Japan (East Sea), according to US and Japanese officials.

China, the North's closest ally, and Russia, which has been trying to re-establish Soviet-era ties with Pyongyang, countered that they favor a weaker council statement without any threat of sanctions. Both countries hold veto power in the council, making sanctions unlikely.

North Korea, which has proclaimed itself a nuclear weapons state, has said sanctions would amount to a declaration of war. China and Russia are clearly concerned that a U.N. demand for such measures would only make the current situation worse and delay a return to six-party talks. China and Russia are part of the talks along with North and South Korea, the United States and Japan.

In a possible sign that Moscow's and Beijing's position may carry the day, President Bush addressed the issue in a subdued manner without the harsh warnings that he had issued as recently as last week when he said that a missile launch would be unacceptable.

Bush said Wednesday that the failure of North Korea's long-range missile test does not lessen the need to push the communist regime to give up its nuclear weapons program. "One thing we have learned is that the rocket didn't stay up for very long," Bush said about the Taepodong-2 missile that failed 42 seconds after liftoff Tuesday. "It tumbled into the sea."

"It doesn't diminish my desire to solve this problem," he said in Washington.

Bush spoke by phone to Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and they agreed to cooperate in pushing for a U.N. resolution to impose sanctions on North Korea, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported Thursday. The U.S. president also spoke to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and they agreed to cooperate on the missile issue, a South Korean official said.

The failure of the Taepodong-2 missile - the object of intense international attention for more than a month - suggested a catastrophic failure of the rocket's first, or booster, stage. A working version of the intercontinental missile could potentially reach the United States with a light payload.

The North also fired six shorter-range missiles on Wednesday, arguing it had the right to such launches. All of them apparently fell harmlessly into the Sea of Japan.

Major South Korean newspapers reported Thursday that North Korea has three or four more missiles on launch pads ready to be fired. The North barred people from sailing into some areas off the coast until July 11 in a possible sign of preparations for additional launches, said Chosun Ilbo, one of South Korea's largest dailies.

Tokyo responded swiftly by barring North Korean officials from traveling to Japan, and banned one of its trading boats from entering Japanese waters for six months.

In South Korea, separated from the North by the world's most heavily armed border, officials said Wednesday's tests would affect inter-Korean initiatives such as the dispatch of food and fertilizer from the South to the North, but stressed that diplomacy was the best way to solve the crisis.

Both Japan and South Korea are within range of North Korean missiles.

The Security Council held an emergency session at Japan's request, and council experts met late Wednesday for about 1 1/2 hours to discuss the draft resolution. Council diplomats said China and Russia stuck to their demand for a presidential statement - not a resolution. Experts will meet again Thursday morning and council ambassadors may then meet in the afternoon to review progress, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the session was closed.

France's U.N. Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere, the current council president, said after the council meeting that all 15 members "expressed deep concern" at the missile tests.

"Thirteen delegations were in favor of a resolution, and two delegations thought a presidential statement would be more appropriate," he said, confirming that these were China and Russia.

"It's too early to say at this moment what the outcome will be except to say that there is an agreement in the council to act swiftly and firmly," de La Sabliere said.

The draft resolution proposed by Japan and obtained by The Associated Press would condemn North Korea's ballistic missile launches and deplore its role as "the world's leading proliferator of ballistic missiles and related technology." It would demand that Pyongyang immediately halt "the development, testing, deployment and proliferation of ballistic missiles and reconfirm its moratorium on missile launching."

If approved, the council would strongly urge North Korea to return immediately to the six-party talks "without precondition" and stop all nuclear-related activities with the aim of completely dismantling its nuclear programs, including both plutonium reprocessing and uranium enrichment.

China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya and Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin both noted that after North Korea shocked Japan in August 1998 by blasting a Taepodong-1 missile over its territory and into the Pacific Ocean, the Security Council reacted merely with a press statement.

Japan's U.N. Ambassador Kenzo Oshima called Wednesday's launches "far more serious."

North Korea's "possible combination of nuclear weapons with missile development and testing" is unacceptable and requires "quick, strong action" by the Security Council, he said.

Flanked by the U.S. and British ambassadors, Oshima said possible sanctions against North Korea "may be discussed, but that, of course, is up to the council."

China's Wang expressed regret and concern at the missile tests, but left far more ambiguity over how much council action would be acceptable to Beijing. He stressed the importance of constructive actions to maintain peace in north Asia.

Asked what the council could do to promote peace, Wang replied: "I think that in 1998 similar circumstances that the Security Council issued some sort of comments or statements. We'll see."

Russia's Churkin said that while "a strong and clear message is needed to North Korea," the goal should be a resumption of six-party talks, which have been suspended since last September, and a diplomatic solution. "We believe that at this point a strong and clear message is necessary from the Security Council to North Korea," he said, backing a presidential statement which becomes part of the council's record unlike a press statement.

Russia is "troubled" by the impact of the launches on region security and the Korean nuclear issue, he said. "And of course we cannot overlook the fact that according to some information which is being verified some missile fragments fell not far from the Russian territory." Churkin cautioned, however, "against whipping up the emotions too much" and urged all everyone to be "clear-headed" and keep in mind the need for talks to achieve a diplomatic solution.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the council must send a "strong and unanimous signal" that North Korea's missile test-launch was unacceptable.

The initial council discussion "was very interesting because no member defended what the North Koreans have done," he said. "I think there is support for sending a clear signal to Pyongyang."

North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Pak Gil Yon refused to talk to reporters Wednesday when he arrived at his country's U.N. mission, shielding himself with a large black umbrella against the rain and the media barrage.