North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast on Saturday, the South Korean military said, the latest in a series of launches in recent weeks amid stalled denuclearization talks.
Saturday’s launch was the seventh by North Korea since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met at the inter-Korean border in June. The launches have complicated attempts to restart talks between US and North Korean negotiators over the future of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
The two leaders agreed in June to restart working-level negotiations but the United States has so far been unsuccessful in its attempts to get the talks going again. The process has been stalled since an unsuccessful second summit between Trump and Kim in Hanoi in February.
Trump said earlier this month Kim told him he was ready to resume talks on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and would stop missile testing as soon as US-South Korea military exercises ended.
However, while the joint military drills are over, North Korea’s continued launches caused “strong concern”, South Korea’s National Security Council (NSC) said on Saturday.
Trump said after the latest launches the United States has a good relationship with North Korea. “Kim Jong Un has been … pretty straight with me,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
North Korea has repeatedly criticized the mostly computer- simulated drills in recent weeks, as well as South Korea’s import of high-tech weapons such as F-35 stealth jets and the US testing of its intermediate-range cruise missile as threatening and hindering dialogue.
North Korea’s top diplomat called US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a “diehard toxin” on Friday, saying: “We are ready for both dialogue and standoff.”
Those remarks came after US envoy on North Korea Stephen Biegun was in Seoul this week to discuss ways to get negotiations back on track.
The North kept up its harsh criticism of sanctions imposed because of its nuclear and missile programs.
“The US should clearly understand that we do not have a lingering attachment on sanctions relief and that we will never barter the strategic security of the country for the sanctions relief,” a commentary on North Korean state media KCNA said on Saturday.
South Korea’s NSC called for North Korea to stop escalating military tensions and agreed to make diplomatic efforts to bring it to the negotiating table with the United States as soon as possible, South Korea’s presidential office said in a statement.
A senior US administration official said: “We are aware of reports of a missile launch from North Korea and continue to monitor the situation. We are consulting closely with our Japanese and South Korean allies.”
Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said North Korea’s missile launches were a clear violation of UN. resolutions and could not be ignored. He confirmed that the latest missiles fell outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone and posed no immediate threat to Japan.
Tokyo believed the latest projectiles launched by the North were ballistic missiles and had lodged a strong protest with Pyongyang, Japan’s Jiji news agency reported.
North Korea launches more short-range missiles, clouding prospects for talks
