SEOUL: North Korea said on Friday its latest missile launch was a warning to South Korean “warmongers” to stop importing weapons and conducting joint military drills, a message that analysts said was also aimed at the United States.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally watched the test-fire of two short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, the first test since Kim met with US President Donald Trump last month and agreed to revive denuclearisation talks.
The missile tests raises doubts about the revival of denuclearisation talks, which stalled after the collapse of a second summit between Kim and Trump in Hanoi in February.
“We cannot but develop nonstop super-powerful weapon systems to remove the potential and direct threats to the security of our country that exist in the south,” Kim said, according to state news agency KCNA.
An official at Seoul’s defence ministry said the missiles were believed to be a new type of short-range ballistic missile, an assessment echoed on Friday by the US-South Korea Combined Forces Command (CFC). A joint review with the United States showed that both missiles flew some 600 km further than similar previous missile tests, the defence official said.
The official also said the missiles bore features similar to Russia’ SS-26 Iskander and the ones the North tested in May — a relatively small, fast missile that experts say is easier to hide, launch and manoeuvre in flight.
A spokesman for the CFC said in a statement the launches were “not a threat directed at (South Korea) or the US, and have no impact on our defence posture.”
Pyongyang has shown increasing frustration via state media that South Korea has not followed through on promised economic cooperation or peace agreements, all while importing the latest F-35 stealth fighters and conducting military drills with the United States.
The KCNA report did not mention Trump or the United States, but said Kim criticised South Korean authorities for staging joint military exercises, which Trump promised to end after his first meeting with Kim in June 2018.
North Korea accused Washington of breaking that promise by planning to hold joint military exercises with South Korea next month and warned of a possible end to its freeze in nuclear and long-range missile tests.
While Friday’s message is very clearly directed at Seoul, it does send signals to Washington as well, said Jenny Town, managing editor at 38 North, a project that studies North Korea.
“On some level, this is like North Korea’s version of maximum pressure on South Korea and the United States.”
North Korean state newspaper Rodong Sinmun showed photos of the missile launching, Kim Jong Un looking through binoculars and at screens appearing to show the missile trajectory, and smiling and clapping with his officials.
Kim said the test was “a solemn warning to the south Korean military warmongers” and accused South Koreans of “double dealing” for saying they support peace but simultaneously importing new weapons and conducting military drills.
Kim said he was satisfied with the rapid response and low-altitude trajectory of the weapon, which he said would make it difficult to intercept.
North Korea may have made some modifications to its missiles since the May test, based on initial photos and the distances travelled, said Jeffrey Lewis, a missile researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS).
Kim Dong-yup, a former naval officer who teaches at Seoul’s Kyungnam University, said the North could have launched the same weapon as May but from the maximum firing angle this time. — Reuters
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