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NKOREA-SKOREA-US-DIPLOMACY-DEFENCE
N.Korea says weapons test involved ‘long-range’ capability
SEOUL, May 10, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – North Korea said Friday it had tested a
long-range weapon, a claim that was likely to raise tensions on the peninsula
and contradicted accounts from the South and in the US that Pyongyang had
fired short-range missiles.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency said leader Kim Jong Un had
overseen Thursday’s weapons test, the second in less than a week amid
tensions with the US over their fitful drive to reach an agreement under
which North Korea would give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions
relief.
“At the command post, Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un learned about a plan of
the strike drill of various long-range strike means and gave an order of
start of the drill,” KCNA said, adding that the drill was successful.
KCNA did not say what kind of weapon was fired. It avoided using the words
missile, rocket or projectile.
The update came amid increasingly strained ties with the US as President
Donald Trump said Thursday he thought Kim was not ready to negotiate
denuclearisation.
In New York, federal authorities said a North Korean freighter had been
seized on grounds of violating UN sanctions imposed over its nuclear program.
The officials said Wise Honest — an 18,000-ton, single hull bulk carrier –
– had exported high-grade coal and brought back machinery to the impoverished
and reclusive country.
During an event at the White House, Trump said US authorities were looking
at the latest projectile launches “very seriously.”
“They were smaller missiles, short range missiles. Nobody’s happy about
it,” Trump told reporters.
“The relationship continues. But we’ll see what happens. I know they want
to negotiate, they’re talking about negotiating. But I don’t think they are
ready to negotiate.”
Two Trump-Kim summits, the most recent in Vietnam in February, have
produced no tangible progress toward persuading North Korea to give up its
nuclear weapons.
Thursday’s missile firing came after North Korea carried out a military
drill and fired multiple projectiles on Saturday, with at least one believed
to be a short-range missile.
– ‘An element of protest’ –
The North had not previously fired a missile since November 2017, shortly
before a rapid diplomatic thaw eased high tensions on the peninsula and paved
the way for a historic first meeting between Kim and Trump.
But the summit in Vietnam broke up without an agreement rolling back
Pyongyang’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief or even a
joint statement, leaving the North frustrated.
Thursday’s launch came hours after the US Special Representative on North
Korea, Stephen Biegun, arrived in Seoul for talks with South Korean
officials, in his first visit since the Hanoi summit.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Pyongyang’s latest move had “an
element of protest and is a pressuring action to steer the nuclear talks in a
direction it desires”.
“It appears the North is highly displeased that the Hanoi summit ended
without agreement,” he said in an interview marking his first two years in
office.
But he added: “Whatever North Korea’s intentions might have been, we warn
that it could make negotiations more difficult.”
The North “fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles” from Kusong
in North Pyongan province, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a
statement, updating its earlier assessment that the launch was from Sino-ri
in the same province.
The JCS added the missiles flew eastwards for 270 and 420 kilometres (170
and 260 miles) and the South Korean and US militaries were jointly analysing
them.
Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington had all refrained from explicitly calling
Saturday’s launch a missile — the South used the term “projectile” — which
could jeopardise the ongoing diplomacy if it violated UN Security Council
resolutions against ballistic technology as well as Kim’s announcement of an
end to long-range missile tests.
Experts said at least one short-range ballistic missile was involved on
Saturday, with a report on the respected 38 North website saying debris left
by the launch suggested it was a “direct import” of a Russian-produced
Iskander.
If North Korea had imported Iskanders from Russia, the report added, “it
has an existing capacity to deliver warheads to targets in South Korea with
great precision”.
A summit between Moon and Kim a year ago was instrumental in lowering the
temperature, but since the Hanoi summit the North has blamed Seoul for siding
with Washington, leaving inter-Korean relations in limbo.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0836 hrs