South Korea's military says North Korea has fired 'unidentified projectiles' from a site near Pyongyang. South Korea's joint chiefs of staff say the projectiles were fired in an easterly direction. Image: News Corp Australia

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wanted the US to send “famous basketball players” to the country as part of the deal on denuclearisation, US media reports.

ABC News claims North Korea made the request in writing in an attempt to normalise relations between the two countries. The request also insisted that it be included in the countries’ joint statement on denuclearisation.

North Korea also reportedly asked for the exchange of orchestras between the two countries.

In 2008 the US sent the New York Philharmonic orchestra to North Korea as part of diplomatic talks.

“While we did not reach an agreement with the DPRK [North Korea] at Hanoi, we exchanged detailed positions and narrowed the gap on a number of issues,” a State Department official told ABC News.

The Hanoi summit between the two powers was held in February but did not result in a deal.

US President Donald Trump felt Kim’s demand for sanctions relief did not meet America’s desire for the North to give up nuclear weapons entirely.

Kim is said to be a diehard basketball fan.

The Washington Post claimed during the Obama administration officials toyed with the idea of sending elite players to the North to kickstart diplomatic talks.

It’s understood Kim’s father Kim Jong Il had asked the US to send Michael Jordan at some stage. Jordan denied the request but the US instead sent a basketball signed by Jordan. The younger Kim has been seen wearing Chicago Bulls merchandise in the past. (Jordan played majority of his NBA career with the Bulls.)

Kim is also friendly with another ex-Bull, Dennis Rodman. Rodman has personally visited Kim in the past, attended basketball matches alongside him and has brought members of the Harlem Globetrotters to visit. He has also helped train basketball players in the North.

MISSILE CONCERNS

Today, Korea’s Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim oversaw a “long-range strike” drill on Thursday, one day after South Korea claimed the weapons fired were short-range missiles.

KCNA said Kim “gave an order of start of the drill.”

The launch was the North’s second weapons test in less than a week as tensions grow with the US.

The North fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles from Kusong in North Pyongan province, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The new KCNA statement did not say what kind of weapon was fired and avoided using the words missile, rocket or projectile.

The tests come after it was revealed the Trump administration had seized a North Korean cargo ship used to supply coal to the isolated nation. The US claim the vessel had violated international sanctions.

Both the news of the ship seizure and North Korea firing suspected missiles show signs of trouble for nuclear disarmament talks.

It also follows a Pentagon decision to suspend efforts to arrange negotiations on recovering additional remains of US service members killed in the North during the Korean War.

Donald Trump said he knows North Korea wants to negotiate with the United States but he does not think it is ready to do so.

“The relationship continues … I know they want to negotiate, they’re talking about negotiating. But I don’t think they’re ready to negotiate,” Mr Trump told reporters at the White House. He said “nobody is happy” about North Korea’s latest missile launch.

The Justice Department said the seized ship, the Wise Honest, is one of North Korea’s largest bulk carriers and for several years had been used to deliver Russian coal to North Korea.

Payments for maintenance and equipment for the vessel were made in American dollars through unwitting US banks, a violation of sanctions that bar North Korean citizens or entities from the US financial system.

Officials say North Korea sought to conceal the vessel’s purpose by listing in shipping documentation different countries for its nationality and the origin of the coal.

“This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” Assistant Attorney-General John Demers, the Justice Department’s top national security official, said. According to a civil complaint filed earlier this week in federal court in Manhattan, the ship was initially intercepted and seized by Indonesian authorities on April 2, 2018.

At the time, it was about 4500kms south of Nampo, North Korea, where it had been photographed a month earlier. The complaint states that after taking the load of coal, the ship sailed south with it toward Indonesia. The vessel has since been taken into custody by the US.