Because North Korea's state news agency did not mention the launches, it was hard to grasp Pyongyang's true intentions. Officials and analysts, however, said they showed the country remains happy to stand up to the international community and appears unwilling to give in to efforts to punish it.

"I think it's a demonstration of their defiance and rejection of the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1874, for one thing, and to demonstrate their military power capabilities to any potential adversaries" as well as potential customers for its weapons, said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank.

Pinkston also said that there was "certainly a political aspect connected" to the launches and that July 4 was perhaps a "symbolic date," suggesting the timing was not a coincidence.

Obama's administration has offered dialogue, but it says North Korea must return to stalled international talks on its denuclearization and stop engaging in what Washington sees as provocative behavior threatening allies South Korea and Japan.