South Korea on Thursday denied speculation that a delay in the U.N. Security Council (UNSC)'s adoption of a press statement to condemn North Korea's recent missile provocations is related to the joint military drills between Seoul and Washington.

Last week, Russian Ambassador to the U.N. Vitaly Churkin said that Russia had proposed that an expression calling on the allies to halt or refrain from conducting their drills be included in the statement. This has spawned speculation that the delay could be related to the military drills.

"The delay is not related to the South Korea-U.S. joint drills," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Cho June-hyuck said during a regular press briefing. The adoption of the UNSC statement is being delayed because of "differences" in the positions of UNSC member states, he added.

After Pyongyang's latest test of the intermediate-range Musudan ballistic missiles on April 28, the UNSC has been working on a press statement.

Noting that it is "not easy" to adopt the UNSC statement, Cho expressed hopes that there would not be any cracks in the global campaign to pressure Pyongyang to renounce its nuclear and missile programs.

Pyongyang test-fired three Musudan missiles -- with a range of 3,000-4,000 kilometers -- last month, but Seoul authorities said that they all ended in failure.

The communist state is known to have started deploying the Musudan missile in 2007. The Musudan, in theory, can strike Guam, a key U.S. strategic base in the Asia-Pacific region. (Yonhap)