North Korean military conducts a live-fire drill for multiple launchers and tactical guided weapons in the country's east coastal city of Wonsan, Saturday. / Yonhap

By Yi Whan-woo

North Korea fired several short-range projectiles, Saturday, to ratchet up pressure on U.S. President Donald Trump to return to the negotiating table with a compromise on easing sanctions, analysts said Sunday.

They said Trump, however, will keep sanctions and that sanctions relief will not happen, just like when the summit between leaders of the two counties collapsed in Hanoi, Vietnam late February.

The experts said such a deadlock will force North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, not Trump, to consider whether to go back on the path to war as in 2017 or comply with the U.S. demand for full denuclearization in return for sanctions relief.

Pyongyang apparently did not want to anger the U.S., Saturday, as they did not fire intermediate- or long-range missiles. A series of test launches in 2017 showed that the North's intermediate-range missiles can reach the U.S. military base in Guam while the latter can target the entire continental U.S.

Meanwhile, the North's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, Sunday, Kim oversaw a live-fire drill of long-range multiple rocket launchers and unspecified tactical guided weapons

KCNA said Kim expressed "great satisfaction" over Saturday's drills and urged his troops to bear in mind "the iron truth that genuine peace and security are ensured and guaranteed only by powerful strength."