Missile launches did not violate Kim’s pledge to Trump — Bolton

North Korea’s latest missile launches did not violate a pledge its leader Kim Jong Un made to US President Donald Trump, a senior US official said on Thursday, but efforts to resume denuclearisation talks remained in doubt.

Kim oversaw the first test firing of a “new-type large-calibre multiple launch guided rocket system” on Wednesday, North Korean state media reported.

North Korean state television showed rockets launching from a vehicle that had been blurred in photos to obscure its features.

It followed six days after the launch of two short-range ballistic missiles, North Korea’s first tests since Kim and Trump met on June 30 and agreed to revive stalled denuclearisation talks.

The latest launches were intended to put pressure on South Korea and the United States to stop upcoming military drills and came as diplomats criss-cross the region this week in the hope of restarting the talks.

“The firing of these missiles don’t violate the pledge that Kim Jong Un made to the president about intercontinental-range ballistic missiles,” US national security adviser John Bolton said in an interview with Fox Business News.

“But you have to ask when the real diplomacy is going to begin, when the working-level discussions on denuclearisation will begin,” he said.

North Korea’s tests of shortrange missiles over the past week happened despite a meeting between Kim and Trump on June 30 at the heavily armed demilitarised zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas at which they agreed to revive stalled talks.

South Korea’s intelligence agency told lawmakers more North Korean missile tests are possible in August, the Yonhap news agency reported.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Vipin Narang said the missile tests were part of the North Korean leader’s approach to diplomacy.

“He’s saying it will take more than a photo-op to get things moving.”

The tests were a stark reminder that every day the United States and its allies fail to secure an agreement is a day that North Korea continues to improve and expand its nuclear and missile arsenals, he said.

US officials have played down the tests. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier this week he still hoped that talks would start soon, including possibly on the sidelines of a Southeast Asian security forum in Bangkok this week.

However, Bolton said there had been no response. “We’re still waiting to hear from North Korea,” he said. — Reuters