US Has Urged North Korea To Halt Its Missile Testing and Resume Negotiations

Share Us

695
US Has Urged North Korea To Halt Its Missile Testing and Resume Negotiations
25 Oct 2021
7 min read

News Synopsis

North Korea conducted its fifth series of weapons tests last week, firing a newly built ballistic missile from a submarine. Days after North Korea launched its first underwater-launched ballistic missile in two years, a top US ambassador asked the North to desist from further missile tests and to begin the nuclear dialogue between the two nations.

Sung Kim, the US's senior North Korea negotiator, said after meeting with South Korean officials to discuss North Korea's recent missile launches, which occurred amid a long-running impasse in nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang. The submarine-launched missile looked to be in the early stages of development, according to South Korean officials.

Submarine-launched missiles are tougher to detect in advance, giving North Korea a backup, retaliatory assault capability. The launch on Tuesday violates repeated UN Security Council resolutions prohibiting North Korea from engaging in any ballistic missile activities. North Korea tested multiple new weapons systems over six weeks before the submarine missile launch, including its longest-range cruise missile and a hypersonic missile presently in development.

These weapons might put US allies South Korea and Japan in range of a strike. The US-led negotiations to stop North Korea's nuclear program have been mostly deadlocked since early 2019 when a meeting between then-President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un failed due to disagreements over US-led sanctions on the North.

TWN In-Focus