Japan says North Korea missile launches won't affect bilateral talks: Jiji

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea's latest missile launches will not affect planned talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang this month over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, Jiji news agency quoted a Japanese foreign ministry official as saying on Wednesday. Separately, Japanese media reported that Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told a parliamentary committee that the Japanese government had protested against the missile launches through its embassy in Beijing. North Korea fired two mid-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast and towards Japan early on Wednesday. Japan and North Korea are set to resume high-level talks in Beijing on March 30-31. Talks have been suspended since December 2012, when Pyongyang test-launched a long-range missile. (Reporting by Dominic Lau; Editing by Edmund Klamann)