N. Korea launches missiles, complicates US attempts to restart talks

SEOUL: North Korea fired what appeared to be two shortrange ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast yesterday, the South Korean military said, the latest in a series of launches in recent weeks amid stalled denuclearisation talks.

Saturday’s launch was the seventh by North Korea since US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met at the inter-Korean border in June. The launches have complicated attempts to restart talks between US and North Korean negotiators over the future of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.

The two leaders agreed in June to restart workinglevel negotiations but the United States has so far been unsuccessful in its attempts to get the talks going again. The process has been stalled since an unsuccessful second summit between Trump and Kim in Hanoi in February.

Trump said earlier this month Kim told him he was ready to resume talks on North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes and would stop missile testing as soon as US-South Korea military exercises ended.

However, while the joint military drills are over, North Korea’s continued launches caused “strong concern”, South Korea’s National Security Council (NSC) said on Saturday.

South Korea’s NSC called for North Korea to stop escalating military tensions and agreed to make diplomatic efforts to bring North Korea to the negotiating table with the United States as soon as possible, South Korea’s presidential office said in a statement.

A senior US administration official said: “We are aware of reports of a missile launch from North Korea and continue to monitor the situation. We are consulting closely with our Japanese and South Korean allies.”

Japanese Defence Minister Takeshi Iwaya said North Korea’s missile launches were a clear violation of UN resolutions and could not be ignored.

He confirmed that the latest missiles fell outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone and posed no immediate threat to Japan’s security.

Japan’s Jiji news agency reported that Tokyo believed the latest projectiles launched by the North were ballistic missiles and had lodged a strong protest with Pyongyang.