N. Korea fires another missile

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Launch dashes hopes for peace: Seoul

SEOUL, May 21, (Agencies): North Korea fired a ballistic missile into waters off its east coast on Sunday, its second missile test in a week, which South Korea said dashed the hopes of the South’s new liberal government for peace between the neighbours. A South Korean military official said the missile appeared to be an upgraded, extended-range version of the North’s solid-fuel submarinelaunched missile.

The missile fired a week ago flew was liquid-fuelled, and flew further. North Korea has defied all calls to rein in its nuclear and missile programmes, even from China, its lone major ally, saying the weapons are needed for legitimate self-defence. The reclusive state has been working to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the US mainland.

On Saturday, it said it had developed the capability to strike the US mainland, although Western missile experts say the claim is exaggerated. An official travelling with US President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia said the White House was aware of the latest launch and noted that the missile had a shorter range than the three previous missiles that North Korea had tested.

Complicate
The two missile tests in a week complicate plans by South Korea’s new President Moon Jae in to seek ways to reduce tension on the peninsula. Moon took office eleven days ago after winning an election on a platform of a more moderate approach to the North, with which the South is still technically at war since no peace treaty was signed at the end of their 1950-1953 conflict.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said the tests were “reckless and irresponsible actions throwing cold water over the hopes and desires of this new government and the international community for denuclearisation and peace on the Korean peninsula”. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the latest missile test by the reclusive North was “a snub and a challenge to international efforts for a peaceful resolution”. Abe told reporters after a meeting of Japan’s National Security Council that he wanted to raise the issue of North Korean missile launches at the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in Italy this month. China had no immediate comment. Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, said the North appeared to be testing and perfecting both solid and liquidfuelled missiles, which might help explain why the pace of its tests had increased.

Sanctions
The UN Security Council met behind closed doors last Tuesday to discuss tightening sanctions on North Korea after its May 14 launch. US Ambassador Nikki Haley said the United States was working with China, Pyongyang’s main ally, on a new sanctions resolution and warned that all countries must step up action against North Korea or face measures themselves.

“We all have to send a sign to North Korea, and that is: ‘No more. This is not playtime. This is serious. These threats are not welcome’,” Haley told reporters ahead of the meeting. “If you are a country that is supplying or supporting North Korea, we will call you out on it,” Haley said. The North says it needs missiles and nuclear weapons to deter any attack by the United States. State newspaper Minju Joson Sunday threatened more launches. “If the US persists in confrontation with the DPRK (North Korea), the latter will show how the crimewoven history of the US is put to an end,” it said. “Many more ‘Juche weapons’ capable of striking the US will be launched from this land. This is the DPRK’s answer to the Trump administration,” it said, referring to the national philosophy of “Juche” or self-reliance.

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