South Korea alarmed: North Korea provokes again with missile test

South Korea alarmed
North Korea provokes again with missile test

North Korea is again stimulating its neighboring country in the south with a missile test. The tensions on the peninsula are thus exacerbated. The US repeatedly calls on North Korea for talks – but the chances of success are slim.

North Korea has tested a ballistic missile again, according to South Korean information. Pyongyang fired an “unidentified” bullet into the sea from Sinpo, the South Korean military said. According to experts, it could have been a submarine-based ballistic missile (SLBM). North Korea had tested missiles several times in the past few weeks, causing international concern.

Sinpo is a large naval shipyard that also has submarines, according to satellite images. It is known that North Korea is working on a submarine-based ballistic missile and has already tested underwater launches. “It is very likely that the north shot down an SLBM,” said Shin Beom-chul of the Korean National Strategy Research Institute. According to media reports, the latest missile test took place shortly before a meeting between US intelligence coordinator Avril Haines and her South Korean and Japanese colleagues. The topic of the talks in Seoul is therefore the situation in North Korea.

The US special envoy to North Korea, Sung Kim, had called on Pyongyang again for talks. Washington has “no hostile intentions” towards North Korea and hopes for a “meeting without preconditions,” he said after talks with his South Korean colleague in Washington. The US administration of President Joe Biden has repeatedly emphasized its willingness to talk to Pyongyang. In order to achieve an end to the North Korean nuclear program, Washington is ready at any time to meet representatives of Pyongyang anywhere and without preconditions, stressed US government officials. North Korea, on the other hand, showed no willingness to give up its arsenal.

North Korea’s ruler Kim Jong Un rejected the offer of talks at the end of September, describing the US statements as a “cheap trick”. In recent weeks, Pyongyang has tested, among other things, a long-range cruise missile, a short-range ballistic missile and, according to its own statements, a hypersonic missile. If the North Korean information is correct, the internationally isolated country would have reached another stage in upgrading its arsenal. Hypersonic missiles are extremely fast and flexible, which makes their destruction by missile defense systems very difficult. Numerous Western states had strongly condemned the alleged hypersonic missile test. The internationally largely isolated North Korea is subject to strict US and UN sanctions because of its nuclear and missile program.

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