North Korea fires a second missile test
US seizes ship it says violated sanctions
For the second time in less than a week, North Korea launched suspected short-range missiles, according to South Korea’s military.
The projectiles were fired Thursday from near a military base about 50 miles from North Korea’s capital, Pyongyang. Few other details were immediately available.
State media in North Korea said that on Saturday the nation tested a short-range ballistic missile as part of a regularly scheduled defensive military exercise. It was the country’s first such test in more than a year and came amid what appear to be stalled denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington.
“We’re looking at it very seriously now. Nobody’s happy about it, but we’re taking a good look and we’ll see,” President Donald Trump said Thursday in response to the latest missile launch. “The relationship continues.”
Separately Thursday, Justice Department officials announced they had seized a North Korean ship, Wise Honest, that violated international sanctions by trying to sell coal, which is on a United Nations Security Council export ban list for the country.
“This sanctions-busting ship is now out of service,” Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers said in a statement. A complaint seeking the vessel’s forfeiture was filed in federal District Court by the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.
38 North, a website devoted to analysis of North Korea, said Saturday’s missile test provided “convincing evidence” that Pyongyang is continuing to seek greater military and strategic capabilities despite nuclear disarmament talks with Trump. “Pyongyang perceives itself to be under threat of aggression by the United States. (North Korea’s leader) Kim Jong Un very likely has other strategic weapons projects underway, whether foreign procurement efforts or indigenous development programs,” 38 North said in a post on its website.
South Korean media noted Thursday’s launch coincided with a visit to the Korean Peninsula by the U.S. special representative for North Korea. Stephen Biegun arrived in Seoul on Wednesday for talks with South Korea’s leader about inter-Korean issues, including ways to move beyond an apparent Trump-Kim impasse after two summits failed to produce any tangible agreements on North Korea’s denuclearization.
South Korea’s military indicated the projectiles launched Thursday likely crash-landed in the East China Sea. Japan’s Kyodo News agency said there was no threat or impact on that nation’s national security. There also was no threat to Guam or the Mariana Islands, U.S. territories 2,100 miles southeast of the launch area, according to the offices of Guam Homeland Security and Civil Defense.
South Korea’s military said the two suspected missiles flew about 260 miles and 167 miles, respectively. It said the base from where they likely were launched also is home to medium-range missiles that can fly up to 800 miles, enough to strike Japan.
The second Trump-Kim summit took place in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February. It ended without agreement over what to do about North Korea’s nuclear program after Trump refused to grant Pyongyang economic sanctions relief. “Sometimes you have to walk, and this was one of those times,” Trump said at the time.
Trump said Thursday that “North Korea has tremendous potential economically” and he didn’t believe Kim would want to jeopardize that.