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| People watch a TV showing a file picture of a North Korean missile for a news report on North Korea firing short-range ballistic missiles, in Seoul, South Korea |
North Korea fired missiles for the third time in eight days on Friday, a series of launches that analysts say are designed to improve military capabilities and pressure the United States and South Korea as they seek to restart denuclearisation talks.
US officials, who have been hoping to revive the stalled talks with North Korea, played down the launches. The North has been testing missiles despite US President Donald Trumpโs June 30 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, where they agreed to revive the talks.
The diplomatic process may have some bumps but conversations with North Korea are โgoing on even as we speakโ, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in Bangkok, where he is attending a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
South Koreaโs government said the latest projectiles fired by the North appeared to be new short-range ballistic missiles.
The missiles flew 220 km (135 miles) and reached an altitude of 25 km (15 miles), the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) in Seoul said.
A US official said US intelligence had detected at least one projectile, and possibly more, that did not pose a threat to North America. US officials said initial information indicated they were similar to two other short-range missile tests by Pyongyang since last week.
North Korean state media said Kim oversaw the firing of what it described as a new large-calibre, multiple-launch guided rocket system on Wednesday. He also observed the launch of a short-range ballistic missile last week.
The launches appear to be intended to put pressure on South Korea and the United States to stop planned military exercises later this month and offer other concessions.
Kimโs government was assiduously improving military capabilities as well as signalling negotiating demands with the tests, said Leif-Eric Easley, an international relations professor at Seoulโs Ewha University.
โThe aim is not only to increase Pyongyangโs ability to coerce its neighbours, another goal is to normalise North Koreaโs sanctions-violating tests as if they were as legitimate as South Koreaโs defensive exercises,โ Easley said.
โNO PROBLEMโ
Trump was asked at the White House before he set off for a campaign trip to Ohio if he thought Kim was testing him and said the launches did not violate the North Korean leaderโs promises.
Trump also said they were short-range missiles. โWe never made an agreement on that. I have no problem,โ he said.
While Trump says he never made an agreement on short-range missiles, the 15-member United Nations Security Council unanimously demanded in 2006 that North Korea suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile programme and โre-establish its pre-existing commitments to a moratorium on missile launchingโ.
The U.N. Security Council met behind closed doors in New York on Thursday to discuss the latest missile launches.
Representatives from Britain, France and Germany called on North Korea after the meeting to engage in meaningful talks with the United States and said international sanctions need to be fully enforced until Pyongyang has dismantled its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Pompeo said the UN sanctions remained fully in place.
โWeโre working with countries all across the world, many in this region, doing great work to enforce those,โ he said.
Pompeo also said he was disappointed his North Korean counterpart had cancelled a planned trip to the ASEAN forum.
โI think it wouldโve given us an opportunity to have another set of conversations,โ he said. โI hope it wonโt be too long before I have a chance to do that.โ
Nuclear envoys from the United States, South Korea and Japan held a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN forum on Friday, where they were expected to discuss the Northโs latest missile tests and ways to restart working-level talks between the United States and North Korea.
The Japanese Ministry of Defence said on Friday no immediate impact was seen on Japanโs security after North Koreaโs latest launch.
Andrei Lankov, director of Korea Risk Group, a think tank, said Pyongyangโs recent missile tests do not mean it was no longer interested in talks with the United States.
โOn the contrary, the choice of the short-range missile is a sign that, for the time being, Pyongyang remains serious about making a deal with the US,โ he wrote in a report for NK News, a website that monitors North Korea.
REUTERS
