North Korea fired what appeared to be multiple rocket launchers Seoul claimed on Sunday, becoming the latest in a series of provocations by the nuclear-armed nation to heighten tensions in the region.
Washington and Seoul officials have continued to issue warnings that the isolated regime is preparing to carry out what would be its seventh nuclear test — a move that the United States warned would provoke a “swift and forceful” response.
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Last month, South Korean Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup said Seoul would “strengthen” its defence capabilities, as well as its security cooperation with Washington and Tokyo, to counter the nuclear threat from Pyongyang.
A total of six US top-of-the-line F-35A fighters arrived in the South last week for a 10-day allied exercise running until July 14, in the first public deployment of American stealth warplanes in the country since late 2017.
Meanwhile, North Korea, believed poised to test a new nuclear weapon, has ignored multiple US overtures for serious talks as well as offers to help in its Covid-19 outbreak, a US diplomat has revealed.
Speaking after Pyongyang test-launched eight ballistic missiles in a single day Sunday, Sung Kim, the US Special Representative to North Korea, said the country has not responded to months of public and private communications seeking to engage over tensions.
President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have repeatedly said publicly that Washington seeks diplomatic talks with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea “without preconditions,” Kim said.
‘We have also reached out to pass this message through private channels as well. This includes high-level personal messages from senior US officials to senior DPRK officials,’ he told reporters in a briefing.
‘Over the past year, we have sent such messages in multiple ways, through third parties, directly in writing,’ he added, noting that included North Korea’s neighbour China.
