Evoking “A long breath confrontation” with the United States, Pyongyang hardens the tone after launching four ballistic missiles since the beginning of the year.
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The four supersonic missile shots facing North Korea over the last two weeks could be only the beginnings to a renewed tension in the peninsula. The North Korean news agency KCNA mentioned, Thursday, January 20, the possible recovery of the long-range missile tests that could carry a nuclear head.
The country must prepare for a “long breath confrontation” with the United States and “all temporarily suspended activities” must resume, announces the Rodong Sinmun, organ of the Labor Party. This decision was taken during a meeting of the Political Bureau under the direction of the Kim Jong-one leader.
Following the failure of the talks with Donald Trump in 2019, Kim Jong-One had announced not to be bound by his commitment to suspend long-range missile tests taken a year earlier to facilitate the rapprochement with the United States. In recent weeks, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) shot four supersonic tactical missiles, last on January 17. The ballistic missile tests had resumed in September 2021 with six shots including one from a train and another of a submarine.
“Hostile position”
After these shots, Washington imposed new penalties at the DPRK. The Designation by Washington of six North Koreans from the North, residents in China, a Russian and a Russian enterprise accused of participating in the pyongyang’s ballistic programs aroused a reaction from the Ministry of Chinese Foreign Affairs which argued that ” Sanctions do not contribute to solving the Korean problem “.
The threat of recovery of ballistic missile tests is not new in itself: during the Labor Party Congress in January 2021, Kim Jong-One had already announced its willingness to continue these programs. The new US sanctions were perceived by Pyongyang “as a clear indication of US intentions” Estime Ankit Panda, Researcher at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Nuclear Policy Program, cited by NK News. And Pyongyang reacted.
On several occasions, the Biden administration has been ready to resume unconditional dialogue with the DPRK. What it refuses considering that as long as the United States maintains a “hostile position” against it (in other words, the sanctions), the dialogue is irrelevant.
Encourage the USA to concessions
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