Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un walk during Xi’s visit in Pyongyang, North Korea in this picture released by by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 21, 2019. KCNA via REUTERS/File Photo
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has vowed to promote cooperative relations with China in a letter to President Xi Jinping, the North’s state media KCNA reported on Sunday.
The letter was in response to congratulations Xi sent for the North’s founding anniversary this month where the Chinese president had expressed his willingness to strengthen strategic communication and working-level cooperation.
“I believe … the DPRK-China friendly and cooperative relations would steadily develop in conformity with the requirements of the new era and the desire of the two peoples in the future,” Kim said in the letter sent on Thursday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday inspected a Russian fighter jet factory that is under Western sanctions, part of a visit Washington and its allies fear could strengthen Russia’s military in Ukraine and bolster Pyongyang’s missile program.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits an aircraft manufacturing plant in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Khabarovsk region, Russia, September 15, 2023. Courtesy Governor of Russia’s Khabarovsk Krai Mikhail Degtyarev Telegram Channel via REUTERS
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and deepening cooperation when they met on Wednesday.
South Korea and the United States said on Friday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia was a violation of U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang, and that the allies would ensure there is a price to pay.
Putin told reporters Russia was “not going to violate anything”, but would keep developing relations with North Korea. His spokesman said no agreements had been signed during Kim’s visit on military issues or any other topic.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. view before and after Kim’s visit was that “talks about the provision of weapons by North Korea to Russia, to kill Ukrainians, have been advancing and continued to advance.”
“We’re not going to take their word for that, or basically anything they say,” he told a White House press briefing, when asked about the Russian statement. “We’ll see what actually ends up happening.”
“I can’t name a specific agreement for you today, but we take a look at that with a heavy grain of salt,” Sullivan added.
He said Russia, and China, had legal obligations to uphold U.N. resolutions on North Korea.
“We have very real concerns based on what Russia has just done, that they are going to live up to their basic responsibility as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council,” Sullivan said.
Kim, 39, on Friday visited aviation facilities in the far eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the Yuri Gagarin Aviation Plant and the Yakovlev plant, both units of United Aircraft Corporation, which is under Western sanctions.
At the Gagarin plant, which is also specifically under U.S. sanctions, Kim inspected assembly workshops where the Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighter and Su-57 fighter are made, escorted by Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, the government said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted Kim Jong Un’s invitation to visit North Korea, stoking U.S. concerns that a revived Moscow-Pyongyang axis could bolster Russia’s military in Ukraine and provide Kim sensitive missile technology.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets Russia’s President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny ?osmodrome in the Amur Oblast of the Far East Region, Russia, September 13, 2023 in this image released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency. KCNA via REUTERS Acquire Licensing Rights
The invite was made during a summit in eastern Russia at which they discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and helping North Korea’s satellite programme.
Calling each other “comrades”, the two leaders toasted their friendship on Wednesday with Russian wine after the 70-year-old Putin showed Kim, 39, around Russia’s most modern space launch facility and they held talks alongside their defence ministers.
“At the end of the reception, Kim Jong Un courteously invited Putin to visit the DPRK at a convenient time,” KCNA said, referring to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s formal name.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin “gratefully” accepted the invite and that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would travel to Pyongyang in October. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Putin has rarely travelled abroad.
For the United States and allies, the burgeoning friendship between Kim and Putin is a concern. Washington has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia, but it is unclear whether any deliveries have been made.
Both Russia and North Korea have denied those claims, but promised to deepen defence cooperation. During a visit to North Korea in July, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was shown banned ballistic missiles by Kim.
The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday the Biden administration “won’t hesitate” to impose additional sanctions on Russia and North Korea if they conclude any new arms deals.
On Thursday, the top national security officials of the United States, South Korea and Japan discussed the Putin-Kim meeting in a call.
A White House statement said U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan and counterparts Takeo Akiba of Japan and Cho Tae-yong of South Korea noted that any North Korean arms exports to Russia “would directly violate multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, including resolutions that Russia itself voted to adopt.”
South Korea’s National Security Council (NSC) said on Thursday North Korea and Russia would “pay a price” if they violated U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Kim is due on Thursday to visit military and civilian aviation factories in the Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and to inspect Russia’s Pacific fleet in Vladivostok, Putin said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin met for a rare summit on Wednesday at which they discussed military matters, the war in Ukraine and possible Russian help for the secretive state’s satellite programme.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un during a meeting at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the far eastern Amur region, Russia, September 13. Sputnik/Vladimir Smirnov Acquire Licensing Rights
Putin showed Kim around Russia’s most advanced space rocket launch site in Russia’s Far East and discussed the possibility of sending a North Korean cosmonaut into space. Kim, who arrived by train from North Korea, asked detailed questions about rockets as Putin showed him around the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
After the tour, Putin, 70, and Kim, 39, held talks for several hours with their ministers and then discussed world affairs and possible areas of cooperation one-on-one, followed by an opulent lunch of Russian “pelmeni” dumplings stuffed with Kamchatka crab and then sturgeon with mushrooms and potatoes.
Kim raised a toast with a glass of Russian wine to Putin’s health, to the victory of “great Russia” and to Korean-Russian friendship, predicting victory for Moscow in its “sacred fight” with the West in the Ukraine war.
“The Russian army and people will certainly win a great victory in the sacred struggle for the punishment of a great evil that claims hegemony and feeds an expansionist illusion,” Kim said, raising his glass.
U.S. and South Korean officials have expressed concern that Kim could provide weapons and ammunition to Russia, which has expended vast stocks in more than 18 months of war in Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied such intentions.
Putin gave numerous hints that military cooperation was discussed but disclosed few details. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu attended the talks. The Kremlin said sensitive discussions between neighbours were a private matter.
When asked by Russian media if Moscow would help Kim build satellites, Putin said: “That’s why we came here.”
Washington warned it would implement further sanctions over any weapons transfers by either country to the other, and said Putin was “begging” Kim for help after losing tens of thousands of troops in Ukraine.
“We have taken a number of actions already to sanction entities that brokered arms sales between North Korea and Russia, and we won’t hesitate to impose additional sanctions if appropriate,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said at a briefing.
He called it “troubling” that Russia would discuss cooperation with North Korea on programs that potentially would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres signalled Moscow had to tread carefully.
“Any form of cooperation of any country with North Korea must respect the sanctions regime that was imposed by the Security Council,” Guterres told reporters, adding that it was “extremely relevant” in the case of Russia and North Korea.
For Russia, the summit was an opportunity to needle the United States, the big power supporter of Ukraine, though it was unclear just how far Putin was prepared to go in fulfilling any North Korean wish lists for technology.
Putin said Kim now planned to visit military and civilian aviation factories in the Russian city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and to inspect Russia’s Pacific fleet in Vladivostok.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Pyongyang for more talks next month, the Kremlin said.
Putin accepted an invition from Kim to visit North Korea in the future, the North’s state news agency KCNA reported.
‘COMRADES’
Putin and Kim called each other “comrades” at lunch and Putin repeatedly reminded Kim that it was the Soviet Union that backed North Korea – and was first to recognise it just over 75 years to the day since it was established.
Amid the Ukraine war, which has become a grinding artillery war of attrition, the United States and Kyiv’s other allies are watching to see if Kim’s visit paves the way for a supply of artillery shells to Russia.
Britain urged North Korea to end arms talks with Russia and said Kim’s visit showed how isolated Moscow has become on the world stage.
But the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, told Ukraine’s NV Radio that North Korea had already been supplying Russia with weapons for more than a month.
“It was already a month and a half ago that everything was agreed and shipments began from North Korea,” he said without giving further details.
Russia has joined China in opposing new sanctions on North Korea, blocking a U.S.-led push and publicly splitting the U.N. Security Council for the first time since it started punishing Pyongyang in 2006.
Asked about military cooperation, Putin said Russia complied with international rules but that there were opportunities to explore.
The choice to meet at Vostochny Cosmodrome – a symbol of Russia’s ambitions as a space power – was notable, as North Korea has twice failed to launch reconnaissance satellites in the past four months.
After showing Kim around a building where the Angara, Russia’s new 42.7-metre space launch rocket, is assembled, Putin said Kim had shown a “great interest in rocket engineering” during the visit.
Ahead of his meeting with Putin, Kim signed the visitor book in Korean: “The glory to Russia, which gave birth to the first space conquerors, will be immortal.”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives in Khasan, Russia, September 12, 2023, in this image released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency on September 13, 2023. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said his visit to Russia shows the “strategic importance” of the two countries’ ties, state news agency KCNA reported on Wednesday ahead of an expected summit with President Vladimir Putin.
The meeting, which could be as early as Wednesday, is being watched apprehensively by Washington and allies, who suspect the two leaders will discuss military cooperation and could agree on a deal to trade arms and defence technology.
Hours ahead of the anticipated summit, North Korea launched at least two ballistic missile into the sea off its east coast, South Korea’s military and Japan’s coast guard said. Details on the type of missiles were not yet released.
The Japanese government said a second missile was launched and both fell outside the country’s exclusive economic zone.
Kim arrived in Russia by private train on Tuesday in the Russian Far East accompanied by top defence industry and military aides, and was welcomed by an honour guard and senior Russian and regional officials, KCNA said.
“Kim Jong Un said that his visit to the Russian Federation … is a clear manifestation of the stand of the WPK and the government of the DPRK prioritising the strategic importance of DPRK-Russia relations,” the KCNA report said.
The DPRK stands for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, while the WPK is the Workers’ Party of Korea, the country’s ruling party.
U.S. officials have said arms talks between Russia and North Korea were actively advancing, and Washington and allies have expressed concern that Kim and Putin would discuss providing Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine.
Kim Jong Un left Pyongyang on Sunday afternoon for Russia via his private train, state media KCNA reports; declassified intelligence shows that Russia targeted a civilian cargo ship in the Black Sea with multiple missiles last month, Rishi Sunak has revealed.
Pic: @primamedia via AP
Possible sighting of Kim Jong Un’s train in Russian Far East
A picture has emerged of a train resembling one previously used by Kim Jong Un travelling through Russia.
The screenshot, from a video released by Russian Telegram channel Prima Media, shows a green train with yellow trimmings steaming near Khasan, some 127 km (79 miles) south of Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East.
North Korea has previously denied having any “arms dealings” with Russia, however, the US has imposed sanctions on three entities it accused of being tied to arms deals between the two countries.
Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, pictured together in 2019
Kim Jong Un could travel to Russia to meet president Vladimir Putin, according to a US official.
The North Korean leader could make the trip as early as this month, according to the unnamed source, with the port city of Vladivostok, near to the border between the two countries, believed to be a possible meeting point.
It comes as the US claims the Kremlin is attempting to acquire military equipment for its war in Ukraine.
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said on Monday that Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu had travelled to North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang last month.
It is believed Mr Shoigu attempted to persuade North Korea – one of the most militarised countries in the world – to sell artillery ammunition to Russia.
Ms Watson said: “We have information that Kim Jong Un expects these discussions to continue, to include leader-level diplomatic engagement in Russia.”
She added that the US is urging North Korea “to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms to Russia”.
It comes after Mr Shoigu also said on Monday that Russia and North Korea may hold joint war games.
“Why not, these are our neighbours,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Mr Shoigu as saying.
“There’s an old Russian saying: ‘You don’t choose your neighbours, and it’s better to live with your neighbours in peace and harmony’.”
When asked about the possibility of joint exercises between the two countries, he said they were “of course” being discussed, the agency said.
North Korea has previously denied having any “arms dealings” with Russia, however, the US has imposed sanctions on three entities it accused of being tied to arms deals between the two countries.
Mr. Kim inspected one of his fleets in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, and watched as the crew staged a drill launching ‘strategic cruise missiles,’ state-run news agency KCNA reported
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un observed the test-firing of strategic cruise missiles from a navy ship, as the U.S. and South Korean militaries kicked off major annual drills, on August 21, 2023. | Photo Credit: AP
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a navy unit and oversaw a strategic cruise missile test, state media reported on August 21, ahead of the start of joint military drills between Seoul and Washington.
Mr. Kim inspected one of his fleets in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, and watched as the crew staged a drill launching “strategic cruise missiles,” state-run news agency KCNA reported.
Leaders say the allies are ‘fully demonstrating their invincibility’ and pledge to bolster security ties as US accuses Pyongyang of supplying weapons to Moscow.
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin exchanged letters pledging to develop ties into what Kim called a “long-standing strategic relationship”.
The letters mark the 78th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule, which is also celebrated as a national holiday in South Korea.
In his letter to Putin on Tuesday, Kim said the two countries’ friendship was forged in World War II with victory over Japan and is now “fully demonstrating their invincibility and might in the struggle to smash the imperialists’ arbitrary practices and hegemony”, state news agency KCNA said.
“I am firmly convinced that the friendship and solidarity … will be further developed into a long-standing strategic relationship in conformity with the demand of the new era,” Kim was quoted as saying in the letter.
“The two countries will always emerge victorious, strongly supporting and cooperating with each other in the course of achieving their common goal and cause.”
The United States has accused North Korea of providing weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, including artillery shells, shoulder-fired rockets and missiles. Pyongyang and Moscow have denied any arms transactions.
‘Deeply concerned’
Moscow and Pyongyang – both increasingly isolated from the West and weighted with sanctions – have drawn closer since the Kremlin deployed troops to Ukraine and commenced large-scale hostilities last year.
Last month, Russia’s defence minister stood shoulder to shoulder with Kim as they reviewed North Korea’s newest nuclear-capable missiles and attack drones at a military parade in the capital Pyongyang.
Washington remains “deeply concerned” about North Korea aiding Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and believes Moscow is seeking to increase its cooperation with Pyongyang, US Department of State Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said.
“Any kind of security cooperation or arms deal between North Korea and Russia would certainly violate a series of UN Security Council resolutions,” Patel said at a regular news briefing.
Putin, in his message to Kim, also pledged to bolster bilateral ties.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends the 7th enlarged meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea at the headquarters building of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang, North Korea, August 9, 2023. KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un replaced the military’s top general and called for more preparations for the possibility of war, a boost in weapons production, and expansion of military drills, state media KCNA reported on Thursday.
Kim made the comments at a meeting of the Central Military Commission which discussed plans for countermeasures to deter North Korea’s enemies, which it did not name, the report said.
The country’s top general, Chief of the General Staff Pak Su Il was “dismissed,” KCNA reported, without elaborating. He had served in his role for about seven months.
Pak was replaced by General Ri Yong Gil, who previously served as the country’s defence minister, as well as the top commander of its conventional troops.
Ri also previously served as the army chief of staff. When he was replaced in 2016 his sacking and subsequent absence from official events sparked reports in South Korea that he had been executed. He reappeared a few months later, when he was named to another senior post.
Kim also set a target for the expansion of weapons production capacity, the report said, without providing details. Last week he visited weapons factories where he called for more missile engines, artillery and other weapons to be built.
Photos released by KCNA showed Kim pointing at Seoul and areas surrounding the South Korean capital on a map.
The United States has accused North Korea of providing arms to Russia for its war in Ukraine, including artillery shells, rockets and missiles. Russia and North Korea have denied those claims.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toured the country’s key weapons factories, including those producing artillery systems and launch vehicles for nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, and pledged to speed up efforts to advance his military’s arms and war readiness, state media said Sunday.
Kim’s three-day inspections through Saturday came as the United States and South Korea prepared for their next round of combined military exercises planned for later this month to cope with the growing North Korean threat.
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest level in years as the pace of North Korea’s missile tests and the joint U.S.-South Korea military drills, which Kim portrays as invasion rehearsals, have both intensified in a tit-for-tat cycle.
Some experts say Kim’s tour of the weapons factories could also be related to possible military cooperation with Moscow that may involve North Korean supplies of artillery and other ammunition as Russian President Vladimir Putin reaches out to other countries for support in the war in Ukraine.
During Kim’s visit to an unspecified factory producing large-caliber artillery systems, he stressed the factory’s “important responsibilities and tasks in perfecting (the North’s) war readiness,” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim praised the factory’s efforts to employ “scientific and technological measures” to improve the quality of shells, reduce processing times for propellent tubes and increase manufacturing speed, but also called for the need to develop and produce new types of shells, KCNA said.
At another factory manufacturing launcher trucks designed to transport and fire ballistic missiles, Kim said increasing the supply of the vehicles is a top priority for the military and complimented workers for establishing a “solid foundation” for production.
At a factory producing engines for cruise missiles and drones, Kim called for “rapidly expanding” production, KCNA said. Kim’s stops also included a small arms factory, where he stressed the need to modernize the weapons carried by soldiers. Photos published by state media showed Kim firing at least two different scoped rifles from a table.
The man known as David tells Sky News how his father disappeared without a trace and his mother was tortured in a labour camp – as he provides a rare insight into life in North Korea since the COVID pandemic.
For David, the streets of Seoul are a much longed for safe haven.
To the casual observer, there is nothing out of the ordinary about him.
He is a slight man, softly spoken, dressed in baggy jeans and wide glasses that are fashionable in South Korea.
But his story and what he has been through to get here are utterly remarkable.
He is a North Korean defector, one of the very few to have escaped the DPRK (Democratic Republic of Korea) within the last few years.
“My mother bribed the soldier beforehand,” he tells me as he gestures on a map to where he crossed the border north into China.
“The river was frozen solid. I remember walking maybe 15 minutes to 20 minutes across the ice.
“I remember shivering after crossing the river and climbing over the fence that the Chinese guards had set up.”
For the safety of his relatives that remain in North Korea, we can’t tell you exactly when or exactly how he left. Any specific identifying detail could result in harsh punishments for his loved ones.
But his stories from inside are astonishing and offer a rare glimpse into what life has been like there since the pandemic struck.
Father disappeared without a trace
His childhood, it seems, was a relatively normal one in DPRK terms – helping from a young age to tend the fields and attending school when he could.
But everything changed shortly after his father suddenly disappeared without a trace.
“It wasn’t until about a year later when he got in touch with us that I realised he had fled to the south,” he explains.
“He contacted my mother via telephone. What we didn’t realise was that the North Korean state political security department had been tapping our landline. As a result, our mother was sent away to the labour camp.”
Initially, he was allowed to visit his mother every three months in detention, and he describes what he saw there as shocking.
“The amount of food provided in these detention centres is pitifully little,” he says.
“Prisoners receive around 20 to 30 kernels of corn each meal, which is obviously not enough for a person to survive on, so I packed a lunch when I went to visit her.
The pandemic has made North Korea all but impenetrable
“My mother’s body had shrunk to half her original size in the three months she had been in detention. My eyes filled with tears the moment I saw her; she was so dishevelled and gaunt that I didn’t recognise her initially.
“They also beat the women in prison. Mother’s eyes were swollen to bits and there were bruises everywhere. I wept when I saw her wounds.”
Mother tortured
David was just a child at this time but he was left to fend for himself and his siblings. He says he left school and tried to make ends meet, working in the fields and logging in the winter, but also stole food to survive.
He took what little he could to his mother.
“My mother said that if the inmates’ families didn’t visit them in prison, they would starve to death from malnutrition,” he explains.
“She said tens of people died every day from malnutrition. She even said that people would die in the middle of meals.
“To dispose of the corpses, she said they folded them at the waist and put them in sacks.
“Afterwards, the corpses were buried near the fences of the prison. Also, because the graves weren’t very deep, the stench of the corpses would come up from the ground in the spring when it became warmer.”
His mother described to him the torture she faced, being made to sit for up to 17 hours and beaten if they moved as much as a finger.
A military parade in Pyongyang in February
She also described how inmates whose families did not have the means to bring extra food or bribe the guards would have a life expectancy of just three to four years.
David’s stories matter because recent testimony from inside North Korea is very rare indeed.
The pandemic has made this already secretive state all but impenetrable.
Policy to shoot anyone trying to cross border
In the 2010s, around 1,000 people a year successfully defected from North Korea – the vast majority crossing the northern border with China before seeking asylum in a third country.
But a combination of the strict closed-border policy implemented by both China and the DPRK, plus a new policy to shoot anyone trying to cross, means that in 2022 that number had plummeted to just 67.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches fire assault drill, at an undisclosed location in North Korea March 10, 2023 in this photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for the country to stand ready to conduct nuclear attacks at any time to deter war, accusing the U.S. and South Korea of expanding joint military drills involving American nuclear assets, state media KCNA said on Monday.
Kim’s remarks came as the isolated country conducted what KCNA called exercises aimed at bolstering its “war deterrence and nuclear counterattack capability” on Saturday and Sunday to send strong warnings against the allies.
In the exercises, a ballistic missile equipped with a mock nuclear warhead flew 800 km (497 miles) before hitting a target at the altitude of 800 m (0.5 mile) under the scenario of a tactical nuclear attack, KCNA said.
Kim, who oversaw the test, said the exercises improved the military’s actual war capability and highlighted the need to ensure its readiness posture for any “immediate and overwhelming nuclear counterattack” through such drills.
“The present situation, in which the enemies are getting ever more pronounced in their moves for aggression against the DPRK, urgently requires the DPRK to bolster up its nuclear war deterrence exponentially,” KCNA quoted him as saying.
Kim was using the acronym of his country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
“The nuclear force of the DPRK will strongly deter, control and manage the enemy’s reckless moves and provocations with its high war readiness, and carry out its important mission without hesitation in case of any unwanted situation,” he added.
KCNA photos showed Kim attended the test, again with his young daughter, as flames roar from the soaring missile before it hit the target.
South Korea and Japan reported a launch of a North Korean short-range ballistic missile off the east coast on Sunday, the latest in a series of missile tests in recent weeks.
North Korea has warned that it would be a “clear declaration of war” if its missiles were shot down during test launches over the Pacific Ocean. (Photo: AFP/KNS/KCNA)
North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile Thursday (Mar 9), Seoul’s military said, Pyongyang’s latest show of force just days before South Korea and the United States kick off major joint military exercises.
Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their worst points in decades, with the nuclear-armed North conducting ever more provocative banned weapons tests as Seoul moved to ramp up security cooperation with Washington in response.
Last year, Kim Jong-Un’s regime declared North Korea an “irreversible” nuclear power and vowed to exponentially increase weapons production, including tactical nuclear weapons, as the US looks to move more assets to the region to defend ally Seoul.
Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said that it “detected the launch of one short-range ballistic missile from the North’s western port city of Nampo at 6:20 pm (5.20pm, Singapore Time)”.
“Our military maintains a full readiness posture while closely cooperating with the US as we have strengthened surveillance and vigilance,” it added.
North Korea has long claimed its nuclear weapons and missile programmes are for self-defence and has bristled over US-South Korea military exercises, describing them as rehearsals for an invasion.
Earlier this week, North Korea accused the US of “intentionally” ramping up tensions, and Kim’s powerful sister warned that if the US were to intercept one of Pyongyang’s missile tests, it would be seen as a “clear declaration of war”.
“FREEDOM SHIELD”
After talks between Kim and then-US president Donald Trump collapsed in 2019, diplomacy has stalled and the North has doubled down on military development.
South Korea’s hawkish President Yoon Suk-yeol has moved to boost diplomatic ties and security cooperation with Tokyo and Washington in response to growing threats from Pyongyang.
US President Joe Biden will host Yoon for a state visit on Apr 26, and the South Korean leader will also visit Tokyo next week, his office said.
This month, the US and South Korean militaries will hold their largest joint drills in five years.
Ahead of those exercises, named “Freedom Shield” and scheduled for at least 10 days starting Mar 13, the allies held air drills this week featuring a nuclear-capable US B-52 heavy bomber.
