On Wednesday, South Korean legislators cited intelligence experts saying North Korea might test-fire intercontinental ballistic missiles on a lower, longer trajectory and perform its seventh nuclear test this year to improve its arsenal.
At a briefing by Seoul’s National Intelligence Agency, M.P.s claimed North Korea had already developed the ability to launch ICBMs at a normal angle, allowing them to fly farther (NIS).
The M.P.s claimed Pyongyang might launch an ICBM on a normal trajectory to push the U.S., which has conducted military training in the region and is preparing additional huge exercises in the coming months.
On Wednesday, the U.S., South Korean, and Japanese navies conducted tactical maneuvers in Asian waters.
Tokyo’s defense ministry said a Japanese escort vessel, U.S., and South Korean destroyers participated in the trilateral ballistic missile reaction exercise.
North Korea fired an ICBM on Saturday and two additional short-range ballistic missiles on Monday. In addition, Kim Jong Un’s powerful sister threatened to use the Pacific as a “shooting range” depending on U.S. behavior.
“ICBMs have not been launched at a normal angle so far, but North Korea has all the capabilities and looks to be setting a timeframe to raise the pressure impact on the United States,” parliamentary intelligence committee member Yoo Sang-bum told reporters following the briefing.
You said North Korea might launch a spy satellite and conduct its first nuclear test since 2017 this year, but it has yet to perfect the ability to load numerous rocket launchers with atomic explosives.
He predicted a seventh test might achieve nuclear weapon miniaturization and lightning.
Another committee member, Youn Kun-young, said North Korea may build solid fuel-based ICBMs this year and validated the defense ministry’s report that Chinese surveillance balloons did not cross South Korean airspace.
On Wednesday, North Korea’s foreign ministry called U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ missile tests “very unjust, imbalanced.”
Guterres slammed the North’s latest ICBM launch and urged it to stop provocative measures, comply with Security Council resolutions forbidding such tests, and resume denuclearization discussions.
Kim Son Gyong, Pyongyang’s assistant foreign minister for international organizations, told KCNA that “his illogical and biased attitude on the Korean peninsula problem is functioning as a cause fueling the hostile deeds of the U.S. and its adherents.”
“Guterres can never be immune from the enormous responsibility for any unwelcome circumstance on the Korean peninsula.”
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