North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Saturday launched from a submarine, the South Korean military announced, hours after the United States warned of the possibility of Pyongyang resuming nuclear tests.
This Saturday’s shooting is the country’s 15th show of force and it takes place shortly before the inauguration on Tuesday of a new South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol, with a more hostile stance toward Pyongyang than his predecessor Moon Jae-in.
Since the beginning of the year, North Korea has greatly increased its weapons tests and launches.
The United States said on Friday that North Korea could be preparing a nuclear test this month, the first since 2017.
Last week, during a major military parade, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to build up his nuclear forces “as quickly as possible.” and warned against possible “pre-emptive” attacks, as the future South Korean president mentioned.
On Friday, Washington, through diplomatic spokeswoman Jalina Porter, warned that Pyongyang “is preparing the Punggye-ri test site and could be ready to carry out a test there this month, which would be its seventh nuclear test.”
US President Joe Biden will travel to Japan and South Korea this month. and Pyongyang will be one of the topics he will address during his visit. This latest launch could be related to Biden’s visit or the inauguration on Tuesday of Yoon, who has promised a hard line with his neighbor to the north.
North Korea has imposed a moratorium on nuclear weapons tests. and far-reaching amid a diplomatic rapprochement between Kim and then-US President Donald Trump, which collapsed in 2019 and has been stalled ever since.
Pyongyang has carried out six nuclear weapons tests since 2006. The last and most powerful was in 2017 with a 250-kiloton hydrogen bomb.
Until now, the negotiations to convince Kim Jong Un to abandon nuclear weapons have been unsuccessful. For five years, South Korean President Moon Jae-in pursued a policy of dialogue with Pyongyang, but according to his successor, this “servile” approach was a clear failure.
Analysts claim that Kim Jong Un may be signaling with this series of tests that it is not open to dialogue with the new government.
North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Saturday launched from a submarine, the South Korean military announced, hours after the United States warned of the possibility of Pyongyang resuming nuclear tests.
This Saturday’s shooting is the country’s 15th show of force and it takes place shortly before the inauguration on Tuesday of a new South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol, with a more hostile stance toward Pyongyang than his predecessor Moon Jae-in.
Since the beginning of the year, North Korea has greatly increased its weapons tests and launches.
The United States said on Friday that North Korea could be preparing a nuclear test this month, the first since 2017.
Last week, during a major military parade, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to build up his nuclear forces “as quickly as possible.” and warned against possible “pre-emptive” attacks, as the future South Korean president mentioned.
On Friday, Washington, through diplomatic spokeswoman Jalina Porter, warned that Pyongyang “is preparing the Punggye-ri test site and could be ready to carry out a test there this month, which would be its seventh nuclear test.”
US President Joe Biden will travel to Japan and South Korea this month. and Pyongyang will be one of the topics he will address during his visit. This latest launch could be related to Biden’s visit or the inauguration on Tuesday of Yoon, who has promised a hard line with his neighbor to the north.
North Korea has imposed a moratorium on nuclear weapons tests. and far-reaching amid a diplomatic rapprochement between Kim and then-US President Donald Trump, which collapsed in 2019 and has been stalled ever since.
Pyongyang has carried out six nuclear weapons tests since 2006. The last and most powerful was in 2017 with a 250-kiloton hydrogen bomb.
Until now, the negotiations to convince Kim Jong Un to abandon nuclear weapons have been unsuccessful. For five years, South Korean President Moon Jae-in pursued a policy of dialogue with Pyongyang, but according to his successor, this “servile” approach was a clear failure.
Analysts claim that Kim Jong Un may be signaling with this series of tests that it is not open to dialogue with the new government.
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