N. Korea tests another missile
New South Korean Prez sees ‘reckless provocation’
Washington: The authoritarian North Korean regime has carried out yet another missile test, the Pentagon has confirmed. The US Pacific Command detected and tracked a North Korean missile launch at approximately 10.30 am (Hawaii time) May 13, a statement said. “The missile launched near Kusung and landed in the Sea of Japan,” Pacom said.
Seoul, May 14: North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Sunday in an apparent bid to test the South’s new liberal president and the US which have both signalled an interest in negotiations to ease months of tensions.
The missile flew more than 700 km before landing in the Sea of Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The US Pacific Command said it did not appear to be an intercontinental ballistic missile.
New South Korean President Moon Jae-In, who was inaugurated on Wednesday, slammed the test as a “reckless provocation” after holding an emergency meeting with national security advisers. He said the government strongly condemned this “grave challenge to the peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the international community,” his spokesman Yoon Young-Chan said.
Moon, unlike his conservative predecessors, advocates reconciliation with Pyongyang, but warned on Sunday that dialogue would be possible “only if the North changes its behaviour”.
Moon had said in his inauguration speech that he was willing to visit Pyongyang “in the right circumstances” to defuse tensions on the peninsula, with Pyongyang and Washington exchanging hostile rhetoric. “The North is apparently trying to test Moon and see how his North Korea policy as well as policy coordination between the South and the US will take shape,” said Yang MooJin, professor at the University of North Korea Studies in Seoul.
The launch was also aimed at “maximising the North’s political leverage” ahead of possible negotiations with the US, as Pyongyang recently signalled it was open to talks, he added.
“The North wants to show before negotiations that their powerful weapon is not something they would give up so easily,” Yang said.
US President Donald Trump had threatened military action against the North, but recently appears to have softened his stance, saying he would be “honoured” to meet Kim Jong-Un under right conditions.