Photo: The White House (public domain). Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un at the DMZ, June 2019.
North Korea launched several missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, hours after leader Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister ruled out talks with Washington unless it abandons what Pyongyang calls its hostile policy, the Associated Press reported. The twin moves extend the North’s busiest stretch of weapons testing in years and deepen its rejection of President Donald Trump’s renewed diplomatic overtures.
What was launched
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected several missiles fired from the Sondok area in South Hamgyong Province toward the East Sea. Notably, the military used the word “missiles” rather than “ballistic missiles,” and said it was still analyzing their specifications. Officials have not ruled out close-range ballistic missiles with a range of less than 300 kilometers (186 miles), surface-to-air interceptor missiles or cruise missiles. South Korean and U.S. forces had monitored the launch preparations and tracked the missiles immediately after liftoff.
For people in South Korea, these tests land close to home, and the South’s military says it tracked the missiles from the moment of launch and stands ready to respond to any provocation.
Kim’s sister rejects talks
The launch came hours after Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s sister, issued a statement through the state-run Korean Central News Agency dismissing the idea of renewed diplomacy with Washington.
“It is our clear stand that we have no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons who refuse to abandon their policy of confrontation,” she said, adding that an end to the U.S. “hostile policy” is “a major premise and key to solving all problems.” Still, she stopped short of closing the door completely: “The choice for peace includes dialogue, of course, but this is not surely equated with national interests for us.”
A day earlier, Kim Yo Jong had rejected U.S. findings linking Pyongyang to the record $6.3 billion theft from the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, calling the accusation an extension of Washington’s hostile policy. Her Wednesday statement widened the attack to U.S. policy on denuclearization, human rights, cyber issues, sanctions and military matters, and said North Korea’s countermeasures should set new records.
The busiest testing spree in years
Wednesday’s launch was the North’s fourth show of force in a week, including a cruise missile test on Monday, a cluster warhead test for tactical ballistic missiles on Saturday and the firing of around a dozen short-range ballistic missiles last Thursday.
The pace is part of a broader surge. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, North Korea has carried out 34 missile launch events in the first 21 months of Trump’s second term, double the 17 at the same point in his first term, and has fired at least 93 missiles, more than in all four years of his first term combined. This year alone it has flown new hypersonic missiles and tested new solid-fuel engines, submarine-launched cruise missiles and warheads designed to scatter cluster bombs.
Lee Choon-geun, a missile expert and board member at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, said the frequent tests suggest Pyongyang may be nearing mass production of new weapons, or running the repeated trials needed before exporting missiles in bulk to Russia.
Testing Trump’s red lines
Trump has repeatedly spoken about reviving the summit diplomacy of his first term, when he met Kim Jong Un three times, and has described the North Korean leader as a friend. CSIS analysts Victor Cha and Andy Lim have suggested Kim may be probing the limits of Trump’s tolerance, which they describe as three red lines: no intercontinental ballistic missile test, no nuclear test and no lethal attack.
“The primary audience for this statement is Washington,” Hong Min, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said of Kim Yo Jong’s message. A public rejection of talks, he said, could also signal that no behind-the-scenes contact is underway.
Separately, North Korean state media reported Wednesday that Kim Jong Un visited the Nampho Shipyard two days earlier to inspect a large new warship under construction. He said it was a “vital and important requirement of the times” to rapidly strengthen the navy’s surface and underwater combat power. Shin Jong-woo of the Korea Defense and Security Forum said the vessel appears to be a 10,000-ton cruiser designed for long-range strikes.
JBizNews Desk | Seoul
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