North Korea fires 2 short range ballistic missiles, to rule out peace talks with South Korea
North Korea has fired 2 short range ballistic missiles into the sea off its Eastern Coast today, i.e., Friday, August 16, 2019, minutes before it announced to rule out all the peace talks with South Korea.
The 2 short range ballistic missiles were fired at 08:00 hrs. local time and travelled 230 kms., reaching an altitude of 30 kms., with maximum speed of Mach 6.1. This is the 6th test in less than a month. Last week, it had fired 2 short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan / East Sea.
The tests are being conducted despite a meeting between the President of United States (U.S.) – Donald Trump and Supreme Leader of North Korea – Kim Jong-un in June 2019 where they had agreed to restart the denuclearisation talks, which were stalled after the failed Summit in Hanoi in February 2019. However, these tests don’t violate their terms as these were short range ballistic missiles.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Republic of Korea has said that the test was carried out from a site near the city of Tongchon.
A statement from the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff read, “The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States are in the process of analysis and the South Korean military is closely monitoring military movements and maintaining a strong readiness stance.”
Prior to this, Pyongyang’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country released a statement which condemned the comments of President of South Korea – Moon Jae-in who said that he has pledged to unite North and South Korea by 2045, thereby liberating Korean’s from the Japanese rule. For the records, Korea was divided into 2 parts after the end of 2nd World War.
Moon Jae-in had said in a televised speech, “A new Korean peninsula, one that will bring peace and prosperity to itself, east Asia and the world, awaits us.”
This speech didn’t go down well with North Korea. The North Korea has ruled out all the possibilities of a dialogue with South Korea. Responding to Moon Jae-in’s speech, the North Korea hit back with a statement which questioned the very basis of a dialogue when “even at this moment, South Korea continues its joint military exercise and to speak of a peaceful economy or a peaceful regime. It has no right to do so.”
The statement further stated, “We even question if his thought process is sound when he mentions ‘talks’ between North and South while playing out war scenarios that plan to destroy most of our armies in 90 days.”
A North Korean Spokesperson also said that Moon Jae-in is a “shameless man”. North Korea is furious over the recent U.S. – South Korea military drills, citing that they violate the agreement which was reached between Trump and Moon Jae-in. North Korea believes that such acts impact the peace talks. Kim Jong-un has also written to Donald Trump expressing his concerns over the recent military drills.
