North Korea
fired two short-range ballistic missiles early on Wednesday, the South Korean
military said, only days after it launched two similar missiles intended to
pressure South Korea and the United States to stop upcoming military drills.
New missile test
by North Korea. Source: KNCA The firings follow launches on July 25, North
Korea’s first missile tests since leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald
Trump met on June 30 and agreed to revive stalled denuclearisation talks.
The series of
missile tests raises the stakes for U.S. and South Korean diplomats
crisscrossing the region this week in the hope of restarting talks aimed at
persuading Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile
programmes.
“North Korea’s actions do not help ease
military tensions, nor do they help keep the momentum for talks that are
underway,’’ South Korean Foreign Minister, Kang Kyung-Wha, told reporters in
Seoul before leaving for a Southeast Asian security forum in Bangkok. Kang urged
North Korea to halt the missile launches.
U.S. Secretary
of State, Mike Pompeo and the top U.S.-North Korea negotiator, were also headed
to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Regional Forum in the
Thai capital, where Pompeo said he was holding out hope that U.S. officials
could meet North Korean counterparts.
Trump and Pompeo
both played down last week’s launches and Pompeo has continued to express hope
for a diplomatic way forward with North Korea.
The latest
launch comes ahead of newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper’s
first official visit to Seoul, which the Pentagon said on Tuesday was scheduled
as part of a tour through Asia in August.
U.S. military
forces in South Korea were aware of Wednesday’s launch, a spokesman said.
Wednesday’s launches were from the Wonsan area on North Korea’s east coast,
from which last week’s missiles had been fired, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of
Staff (JCS) said in a statement.
It said it was
monitoring in case of more launches.
The JCS said
later the North had fired ballistic missiles that flew about 250 kilometres
(155 miles) and appeared to be similar to those of last week.
The missiles dubbed the KN-23, are designed to
evade missile defence systems by being easier to hide, launch, and manoeuvre in
flight, experts said.
Kim described
the two KN-23s launched last week as having a “low-altitude gliding and leaping
flight’’ pattern that would make them hard to intercept.
Analysts said
the range and altitude of Wednesday’s flights could indicate a demonstration or
test of those capabilities. South Korean Defence Minister, Jeong Kyeong-doo,
told a defence forum in Seoul that stopping a missile like the KN-23 would be
difficult, although South Korea’s missile defence systems would be able to
detect and intercept them.
South Korea’s
defence ministry also told lawmakers in Seoul it had concluded that a new
submarine the North showcased last week was capable of carrying up to three
ballistic missiles.
Japanese Prime
Minister, Shinzo Abe, said there was no impact from Wednesday’s launch on
Japan’s security.
“We will
continue to closely cooperate with the United States and others,’’ Abe told
reporters. Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said Japan would still seek
a summit with North Korea, without conditions, despite the latest launch.
Trump and Kim
met on June 30 in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas but
Pyongyang has since accused Washington of breaking a promise by planning to
hold joint military exercises with South Korea next month and warned the drills
could derail talks.
Later on Wednesday, state news agency KCNA
repeated calls for the U.S. and South Korea to end their “hostile” joint drills
but did not mention the missile launches.
“It is a prerequisite for improving the
inter-Korean relations and ensuring peace on the Korean peninsula to call an
overall and permanent halt to anti-North war drills, the root cause of
confrontation and war,’’ it said in a commentary.
Moves by the
U.S. and South Korea to rename the approaching exercises were simply
double-dealing that proved “confrontational maniacs remain unchanged in their
black-hearted intention to stifle’’
North Korea by force, it added.
A top South
Korean official said last month the drills would mainly involve computer
simulations.
North Korea has
also warned of a possible end to its freeze on nuclear and long-range missile
tests that have been in place since 2017, which Trump has repeatedly upheld as
evidence of the success of his engagement with Kim. Henri Feron, a senior
fellow at the Washington-based Centre for International Policy, said the U.S.
and South Korea may need to consider a temporary suspension of the drills or
propose other measures to reduce tensions.
“I do think
there is a high risk that talks will end altogether if Washington and Seoul
continue to ignore North Korea’s concern with the exercises,’’ he said.
A summit between
Trump and Kim in Vietnam in February collapsed after they failed to reconcile
differences between Washington’s demands for Pyongyang’s complete
denuclearisation and North Korean demands for sanctions relief.
Trump says he
has a good relationship with Kim and Pompeo said on Monday he hoped
working-level talks could occur soon. Pompeo told reporters travelling with him
to Asia on Tuesday he did not know when this would happen but hoped U.S.
Special Representative for North Korea, Stephen Biegun, and his new counterpart
could meet soon.
North Korean
Foreign Minister, Ri Yong Ho, cancelled a planned visit to the ASEAN forum in
Bangkok but Pompeo said the Americans were still open to a meeting. Harry
Kazianis, of Washington’s Centre for the National Interest, think tank, said
the latest launches were a clear attempt by North Korea to put pressure on
Washington.