After its four missile launches so far this month, North Korea has left the door open to “resuming all temporarily suspended actions,” operations that could include nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests. The initiative, announced by the country’s highest government body during a meeting held on Wednesday and echoed today by the state news agency KCNA, would have the objective of boosting its defense capabilities, after considering that it must prepare for ” a long-term confrontation” with the United States.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un chaired a Workers’ Party politburo meeting on Wednesday to discuss “important political issues,” including formulating measures to counter “hostile actions” by the United States, according to the report. information collected by the KCNA. The highest North Korean executive body dealt with matters of “national defense aimed at promoting and developing the most powerful physical means without delay”, among which it was mentioned “promptly resume temporarily suspended actions”.
Analysts consider that, in this way, Pyongyang contemplates resuming the measures that “on its own initiative” it put on pause in order to “build trust”, when in 2018 a thawing process was opened with Seoul and a stage of negotiations began. with Washington. The dialogue with South Korea and the United States, however, has been paralyzed for more than two years, after the failure of the Hanoi summit in February 2019, when the US side rejected North Korea’s demands to reduce sanctions in exchange for of a partial decrease in its nuclear capabilities.
According to the statement published by the KCNA, North Korea accuses the United States of sanctioning them “more than 20 times” and of providing sophisticated weapons to its neighbor South Korea, actions for which the politburo concludes in the text that “we should be prepared for a long-term confrontation with the US imperialists.”
The Kim Jong-un regime had already warned that it would take more forceful actions after the Joe Biden Administration imposed sanctions against his country last week, after the launches carried out on January 5 and 11. This latest warning comes hours before the United Nations Security Council meets again behind closed doors to discuss the most recent military maneuvers, on the 14th and 17th, that Pyongyang carried out precisely in response to the aforementioned sanctions. (from United States)
On Wednesday, during his press conference to kick off his second year in office, President Biden never mentioned North Korea. A White House spokesman, meanwhile, avoided “guessing” when asked how Washington would respond if Pyongyang resumed nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests. “We remain committed to serious and unconditional diplomacy to achieve tangible progress,” the spokesman said, adding that the United States will continue to coordinate with the international community to prevent advances in North Korea’s weapons program. “The main objective continues to be the complete denuclearization of the peninsula,” he said.
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Some analysts predict that North Korea could test long-range missiles or other more powerful weapons on the occasion of the celebration in February of the 80th anniversary of Kim Jong-il’s birth and in April of Kim Il-sung’s 110th, both national holiday in the country. Others warn that the situation could evolve into a vicious circle of provocations and sanctions like the one in 2017.
North Korea has not tested any nuclear weapons or intercontinental ballistic missiles since it launched a projectile capable of hitting the United States in 2017. In November of that year, when the pace of military tests was practically weekly, Kim Jong-un declared his country’s nuclear weapons program complete and a moratorium on its launches. Short-range missile tests resumed in 2019 after talks stalled.
Pyongyang maintains that this display of military muscle is part of its self-defense program and has repeatedly accused Washington of displaying double standards when it comes to weapons testing. With no sign of diplomatic rapprochement, the North Korean leader gave priority last year to the development of new high-tech weapons. In September, it carried out the first test of a hypersonic missile, a type of weaponry that only the United States, Russia and China have.
According to North Korean media, the launches on January 5 and 11 were also hypersonic missiles, although South Korea called such allegations “an exaggeration.” Seoul considers that, although they reached a speed five times higher than the speed of sound and showed the ability to maneuver after firing – characteristics of hypersonic missiles – the technology of these projectiles was still rudimentary. The launch on the 14th, on the other hand, was double, of two short-range missiles fired from a train, while on the 17th two short-range missiles were fired.
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