Seoul: The US senior diplomat on Sunday urged North Korea to refrain from additional missile tests and continued nuclear diplomacy between countries, days after the north fired the first ballistic missile launched in two years.
Sung Kim, US Main Official in North Korea’s business, spoke after meeting South Korean officials to discuss the recent North Korean missile test that had occurred in the midst of a deadlock that had been a long time in nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang.
“We called the DPRK to stop this provocation and other destabilization activities, and instead, involved in dialogue,” Kim told reporters, referring to North Korea with his official name, the People’s Republic of Korea.
“We are still ready to meet with the DPRK without prerequisites and we have clarified that the United States monitor is not hostile to the DPRK,” he said.
Last Tuesday, North Korea fired new ballistic missiles developed from submarines in fifth weapons tests in recent weeks.
South Korean officials said missiles fired by submarines appeared in the early stages of development.
It marked the test launched under the first water in the north since October 2019 and the most famous since President Joe Biden served in January.
The missiles fired from submarines are more difficult to detect in advance and will provide North Korea with the ability of a secondary retaladiation attack.
Tuesday’s launch violates several UN Security Council resolutions that prohibit any activities by North Korea in the field of ballistic missiles.
Kim said the test pose a threat to the international community and “concerned and counterproductive” for efforts to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.
South Korean colleague Kim, Noh Kyu-duk said the two had a “deep” discussion about Seoul’s encouragement for a symbolic political declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War as a way to bring peace.
Noh said he and Kim also reaffirmed that the problem of North Korea’s concern could be discussed as soon as the conversation began again.
The US-led talks at the end of the North Korean nuclear program were mostly stopped since the beginning of 2019, when a peak between then President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong United Nations collapsed due to disputes over US-led sanctions in the north.
The Biden government has repeatedly said he was ready to meet North Korea “anywhere and anytime” without prerequisites.
But North Korea said that returning to conditional talks in the US dropped what was called a hostile policy on Pyongyang, a real reference to sanctions and regular military exercises between Washington and Seoul.
Before the launch of submarine missiles, North Korea has also tested several other new weapons systems for a period of six weeks, including the longest roaming missiles and hypersonic missiles which are currently being developed.
These weapons have the potential to put us allies of South Korea and Japan within a striking distance.
Some experts say North Korea may also in the next few weeks testing missiles that can reach American homeland to maximize its pressure campaign in the United States.