March 28 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea may have fired short- range missiles into waters off its west coast as part of a regular military exercise, a South Korean government official said. The Defense Ministry is trying to confirm the launches.

The official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue, couldn't say how many missiles were launched. North Korea fired ``several'' missiles at about 10:30 a.m. Seoul time today, Yonhap News reported earlier.

The launches came as Kim Jong Il's regime accused the U.S. of delaying six-nation negotiations aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

Efforts by South Korea, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia to persuade North Korea to disarm are deadlocked after the communist country missed a Dec. 31 deadline to declare its nuclear programs. North Korea and the U.S. failed to break the impasse during talks in Geneva earlier this month.

U.S. and South Korean officials have called on North Korea to hand in an ``accurate and complete'' declaration, including details of its alleged uranium enrichment program.

Enriching Uranium

North Korea today reiterated its denial of enriching uranium and warned that continued U.S accusations of it operating such a program may harm the six-party talks.

``If the U.S. keeps insisting that what does not exist exists and delays the settlement of the nuclear issue, it would have a serious impact on the disablement of nuclear facilities,'' the official Korea Central News Agency cited the Foreign Ministry as saying.

Kim's regime two days ago ordered South Korean government officials working in its Gaeseong industrial complex to leave, taking offense at comments last week by Unification Minister Kim Ha Joong in Seoul.

The minister had said that progress on North Korean nuclear disarmament is crucial to expanding South Korea's industrial complex in the communist country, Yonhap reported.

North Korea last July shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which produced weapons-grade plutonium, under phase one of the six-party accord reached in February 2007.

It began disabling the reactor under the supervision of U.S. inspectors in November. It must finish that process and declare its nuclear programs to complete phase two. The third and final phase is the dismantling of its nuclear program so that it can't be rebuilt.

Kim's regime has maintained its uranium enrichment program and remains a proliferation risk, Director of U.S. National Intelligence Michael McConnell said last month.

North Korea has said it submitted a declaration to the U.S. in November. The U.S. and other nations have demanded that North Korea provide a more complete list.

South Korean President Lee Myung Bak, who took office Feb. 25, has said he will take a tougher line on North Korea than his predecessors. He has said that a lack of progress in the nuclear dismantlement process would harm inter-Korean relations.

To contact the reporters on this story: Heejin Koo in Seoul at hjkoo@bloomberg.net Bomi Lim in Seoul at blim30@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 28, 2008 00:55 EDT