North Korea fires ballistic missile
SEOUL North Korea fired a ballistic missile yesterday, South Korea's military said, just a week after leader Kim Jong-un vowed to boost Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal at the "fastest possible speed".
The launch was the latest in a string of sanctions-busting North Korean weapons tests so far this year, and came after US and South Korean officials warned Pyongyang was preparing to resume nuclear testing.
"One ballistic missile fired by North Korea today at 1203 (0303 GMT) from around Sunan towards the East Sea was detected," South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
"Currently, our military is maintaining readiness posture by tracking and monitoring related movements in preparation for additional launches."
Japan's Coast Guard also said that North Korea had launched "potentially a ballistic missile".
The nuclear-armed state staged a dramatic return to long-range launches in March, test-firing at full range its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile – which may be able to reach the continental United States.
Such tests had been paused while Kim met then-us President Donald Trump for a bout of diplomacy that collapsed in 2019.
Talks have stalled since, and despite biting sanctions, North Korea has doubled down on its military modernisation drive.
More nukes?
Kim Jong-un said at a military parade last week that he would take measures to develop "the nuclear forces of our state at the fastest possible speed", according to footage of his speech broadcast on state media.
"The nuclear forces, the symbol of our national strength and the core of our military power, should be strengthened in terms of both quality and scale."
Repeated negotiations aimed at convincing Kim to give up his nuclear weapons programmes have come to nothing.
"There is a good chance that they testfired a missile that can be equipped with a nuclear warhead," Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean studies scholar, said.
Kim also warned that he could "pre-emptively" use his nuclear force to counter hostile forces at a meeting with top military brass last week.
Regional security
Meanwhile, South Korea and China agreed on Tuesday to cooperate closely for the "stabilisation" of the Korean Peninsula security situation during consultations between their top nuclear envoys, according to Seoul's foreign ministry.
The meeting between Noh Kyu Duk, Seoul's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, and his Chinese counterpart, Liu Xiaoming.
The two sides shared the assessments of the current regional security situation and discussed ways for the "stable management" of it, the ministry said.
Noh voiced worries about the North's sabre-rattling, including its reported work to restore the Punggye-ri nuclear testing site.
He requested Beijing's "constructive" role in efforts to coax Pyongyang into refraining from carrying out additional provocations and resuming dialogue.
Liu agreed on the need for close cooperation among parties concerned for stability in regional security and reaffirmed his country's commitment to support a peaceful resolution to the Korean Peninsula issue.
Liu arrived in Seoul on Sunday for his first visit to South Korea since assuming the post in April 2021, with just a week left before President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol's inauguration and three weeks to go before Yoon's summit talks with US President Joe Biden in Seoul.