The former head of the Korea Mission Center at the Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) of the United States said Pyongyang does not seem to have meant to threaten ending its nuclear talks with the U.S. in its recent missile launches.

Andrew Kim made the assessment on Wednesday during a media session in Seoul for the 2019 Global Intelligence Summit hosted by the Institute for National Security Strategy. 

Kim said the North's launches earlier this month were not meant to shake up negotiations with the U.S. but were done to handle a backlog of launches that the country would find difficult to conduct once the stalled denuclearization talks resume.  

He predicted that the North could launch more missiles for the time being, but that it would refrain if the previous launches were successful. 

Kim, who played a significant role in U.S.-North Korea negotiations, also discussed some challenges in dealing with the North. He said a conventional formula to make friends through constant communication does not work with the regime, adding Pyongyang talks only when it wants.