North Korea launches more missiles; U.S. announces ship seizure in mounting tensions

[webfact]

North Korea launches more missiles; U.S. announces ship seizure in mounting tensions

By Josh Smith and David Brunnstrom

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un looks on after attending a wreath laying ceremony at a navy memorial in Vladivostok, Russia April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov

 

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles on Thursday in its second such test in less than a week, and the United States said it had seized aNorth Korean cargo ship as tensions again mounted between the two countries.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump said "nobody is happy" at the launches, but still appeared to hold the door open for more talks with North Korea. South Korea said the tests were worrisome and unhelpful and likely a protest against Trump refusing to ease economic sanctions on North Koreaat a failed summit in Hanoi in February.

 

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range missiles on Thursday, the South's military said, less than a week after its leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test-firing of multiple rockets and a missile. Francesca Lynagh reports.

 

The United States has given no sign of willingness to budge on sanctions and on Thursday the U.S. Justice Department announced the seizure of a North Korean cargo vessel it said was involved in the illicit shipping of coal.

 

North Korea has effectively pulled back from engagement with Washington since the Hanoi meeting between its leader Kim Jong Un and Trump collapsed without agreement on U.S. demands for the dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear programme and Kim's demands for relief from punishing sanctions.

 

"The relationship continues ... I know they want to negotiate, they're talking about negotiating. But I don't think they're ready to negotiate," Trump told reporters.

 

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said the United States would continue to focus on diplomatic efforts with North Korea.

 

"We're going to stick to our diplomacy and as you all know we haven't changed our operations or our posture and we'll continue to generate the readiness we need in case diplomacy fails," he told reporters outside the Pentagon.

 

Trump has held up a freeze in missile testing since 2017 as a sign of progress in his talks withNorth Korea after exchanges of fiery rhetoric two years ago raised fears of war.

 

North Korea formally announced a freeze in intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and nuclear bomb tests in April last year and Trump stressed that the missiles fired were not of a kind that could threaten the United States.

 

"We're looking at it very seriously right now. They were smaller missiles, they were short-range missiles," he said. "Nobody's happy about it but we're taking a good look and we'll see."

 

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all parties to continue talks towards denuclearisation, warning that Pyongyang's latest action "serves only to increase tensions," U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said.

 

Less than a week ago, Kim oversaw the test-firing of multiple rockets and a missile. It was NorthKorea's first test of a ballistic missile since an ICBM launch in November 2017 that it said was capable of delivering a warhead anywhere in the United States.

 

The two missiles fired on Thursday flew east from the northwestern area of Kusong, SouthKorea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. They covered distances of 420 km (260 miles) and 270 km (168 miles) and reached an altitude of about 50 km (30 miles) before falling into the sea, they said.

 

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in, who has strongly advocated engagement with North Korea, said that even if the missiles were short range, they could still violate U.N. resolutions barring NorthKorea from developing ballistic missiles.

 

"North Korea seemed to be discontented it could not reach a deal in Hanoi," he told South Korean broadcaster KBS, while adding that he saw the tests as a sign that North Korea wanted to negotiate and that he planned to push for a fourth inter-Korean summit with Kim.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was due to meet on Thursday with Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, who is expected to raise Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's hopes for a summit with Kim.

 

Trump and Pompeo have brushed aside Kim's demand for Washington to show more flexibility in talks by the end of the year.

 

"ESCALATION TACTICS"

Analysts said it was too soon to say exactly what kind of missiles were involved in the latest launches, but the range would probably exceed that of most of the rockets North Korea fired on Saturday from its east coast into the ocean.

 

"North Korea has returned to its classic escalation tactics from before," said Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defence and Security Forum. "I believe they will keep escalating by using what appear to be short-range missiles, something that will not cause the U.S. to react right away."

 

Harry Kazianis, of Washington's Center for the National Interest think tank, said the launches could only worsen tensions.

 

"While this recent launch of short-range missiles does not violate Pyongyang’s promise to halt longer-range tests, North Korea has now made it clear it will not halt developing other parts of its military capabilities that threaten the region," he said.

 

"Kim’s goal, beyond ensuring his weapons programs are becoming more powerful, is quite clear: to show America and its allies that if they aren’t willing to compromise on the terms of denuclearisation, that Pyongyang will indeed go its own way, with missile launches once again becoming the new norm."

 

The latest tests coincided with a visit to the South Korean capital by U.S. special envoy for NorthKorea Stephen Biegun.

 

North Korea lashed out at the United States and South Korea this week, saying last weekend's launches were "regular and self-defensive." It criticized Seoul and Washington for carrying out military drills.

 

A North Korean media report on Wednesday had hinted at more tests, saying: "The south Korean military were astonished by the recent strike drill. It might fall into a swoon to see a strike drill involving more powerful cutting-edge weapons."

 

North Korea has repeatedly denounced U.S.-led sanctions aimed at pressing it to give up its nuclear weapons and the mood will not have been lightened by the ship seizure announced on Thursday, the first by the United States of a North Korean cargo vessel for violating sanctions.

 

The Justice Department said the 17,061-ton "Wise Honest," one of North Korea's largest cargo ships, was first detained by Indonesia in April 2018. It said it was now in the possession of the United States and was currently approaching U.S. territorial waters around American Samoa.

 

At the U.N .Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday, the United States also took aim at NorthKorea's rights record, calling on it to dismantle camps it said held tens of thousands of political prisoners.

 

North Korea denied the existence of political prisoners and camps and said U.S. sanctions were hampering North Koreans' enjoyment of life.

 

"Such anachronistic acts are very dangerous," its ambassador to the council, Han Tae Song, said.

 

Last week, the United Nations reported that North Korea had suffered its worst harvest in decades, leaving many there chronically short of food.

 

Washington blamed the shortages on the North Korean government and said it could meet its people's needs if it redirected funds from its weapons programmes.

 

(Reporting by Josh Smith, Hyonhee Shin and Joyce Lee in Seoul; Elaine Lies in Tokyo; David Brunnstrom, Steve Holland, Idrees Ali, Sarah N. Lynch and Makini Brice in Washington; Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Nick Macfie, Alistair Bell and James Dalgleish)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-05-10

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info

[Tug]

If I were Kim I would be very very carefull look at who he is dealing with and Donald sourly needs a distraction rite now

[bluesofa]

If you want to get ahead get a hat.

Is the Dear Dictator worried about hair loss?

[Puchaiyank]

I have often wondered why the US has shown no "good faith gesture" during these negotiations...

 

North Korea has released prisoners, handed over remains of US service personnel killed during Korean war, stopped building missiles and firing rockets...and the US boasts it has done nothing in return... 

 

What could be more fair?   ????

[Tug]

40 minutes ago, Puchaiyank said:

I have often wondered why the US has shown no "good faith gesture" during these negotiations...

 

North Korea has released prisoners, handed over remains of US service personnel killed during Korean war, stopped building missiles and firing rockets...and the US boasts it has done nothing in return... 

 

What could be more fair?   ????

Uhhh you do rember Donald canceled readiness practice with s Korea for nothing in return right??then announced that they were in love you do rember that I sure do and all joking aside this is deadly serious the potential deaths could easily number in the millions I pray for a peaceful resulition

[Cryingdick]

One less channel for NOKO to get Kim goods. 

[mtls2005]

DPRK, Venezuela, Iran, Gaza...

 

 

 

John Bolton must be wetting himself.

[animalmagic]

Oh good, here we go with the Korean Missile Crisis!  The Cuban Missile Crisis may have ended reasonably well with the then President being lauded for his actions; can't help but wonder if the current one has something similar in mind.

When you push a bully into a corner they usually lash out in anger.  Please note that I have not specified who the bully is; I'll leave that up to you.

[animalmagic]

1 minute ago, mtls2005 said:

DPRK, Venezuela, Iran, Gaza...

 

 

 

John Bolton must be wetting himself.

Possible positive news for Boeing stocks and shares?

[klauskunkel]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

"I know they want to negotiate, they're talking about negotiating. But I don't think they're ready to negotiate,"

Astute, succinct and eloquent. This man is a true word smith. We all need another four years of this particular diet.

[Dumbastheycome]

So the old  game returns.

But a rather weak attempt at providing evidence of US reaction by "announcing the seizure of a ship which in fact dates  back 12 months or more and actually originally  by Indonesian authorities.

Ho hum.

[earlinclaifornia]

The deranged clown is sending bombers to Iran and Kim is make him look like the coward he has always been

[Kiwiken]

Only One of the Protagonist Nations has ever used Nuclear Weapons. NK wil not use them first. Militarily the south can hold its own.

So in order to get NK to play the game the USA has to put guarantees on the table and play the game itself.

you get nothing for nothing.

You ask NK to drop its ace but you are not even offering a pair of deuces

[candide]

16 hours ago, Tug said:

If I were Kim I would be very very carefull look at who he is dealing with and Donald sourly needs a distraction rite now

NK has well understood the lessons from the Irak case. They accelerated the development of nuclear weapons in order to become safe from US attacks.

 

The distraction role has been attributed to Iran instead, as they have been stupid enough to halt their military nuclear effort.

Edited May 10, 2019 by candide

[Morch]

3 hours ago, Kiwiken said:

Only One of the Protagonist Nations has ever used Nuclear Weapons. NK wil not use them first. Militarily the south can hold its own.

So in order to get NK to play the game the USA has to put guarantees on the table and play the game itself.

you get nothing for nothing.

You ask NK to drop its ace but you are not even offering a pair of deuces

 

The US did use nuclear arms. That was in 1945. US forces carried out numerous military operations since, without use of nuclear arms. No particular reason to assert this will change. NK got it's nuclear military capability relatively recently, and didn't have much opportunity to use it so far.

 

There's also no guarantees as to what NK (read Kim) would or wouldn't do. There's what's assumed to be the sensible thing to do, but that's often commented upon from an outside point of view. Then there are miscalculations and mistakes, both often come with the territory when high-stakes crisis situations.

 

The confidence expressed in SK's military ability to "hold its own" is yet another fact-light wide-brush comment. I doubt some of the more obvious negative scenarios (which were extensively discussed on many past topics) qualify.

 

How the Trump administration handles foreign relations, negotiations and whatnot, is what it is. That said, some of the joint war games etc. with SK were put on hold, and Kim did get his own photo op with the so called leader of the free world - neither were much on offer previously. From NK's end, seems like Trump  got his photo op and bragging rights, plus bodies of US soldiers. Anything related to actual military and nuclear issues, whether agreed upon or announced as goodwill action, turned out to be an illusion. So bottom line, it's pretty much how international negotiations about such things go - small steps over time, a known amount of backtracking and mutual accusations. Not great, certainly not the fast deal Trump tried to market, but not sub-standard either.

[bendejo]

Hey, I thought Kim and DT were lovers!  What about all those beautiful love letters he exchanges with Kim?

DT wasn't lying about that, of course not.

 

 

[sanemax]

38 minutes ago, bendejo said:

Hey, I thought Kim and DT were lovers!  What about all those beautiful love letters he exchanges with Kim?

DT wasn't lying about that, of course not.

 

 

The long term game plan seemed to be to try to force Kim to sign the deal .

DT & Kim become the best of friends , DT announces that him and Kim will sign the deal next week and getting all the cameras there to film it , putting Kim into a corner and expecting him to sign the deal .

  Kim said no

[bendejo]

2 hours ago, sanemax said:

The long term game plan seemed to be to try to force Kim to sign the deal .

DT & Kim become the best of friends , DT announces that him and Kim will sign the deal next week and getting all the cameras there to film it , putting Kim into a corner and expecting him to sign the deal .

  Kim said no

I'm under the impression there is a real estate deal involved.  At the press conference after the first meeting he said it straight out that the beaches of NK are beautiful and would be perfect for developing a resort, wrapping it up with "I'm a real estate developer, that's what I do."

 

Laws? 

 

 

[Tug]

46 minutes ago, bendejo said:

I'm under the impression there is a real estate deal involved.  At the press conference after the first meeting he said it straight out that the beaches of NK are beautiful and would be perfect for developing a resort, wrapping it up with "I'm a real estate developer, that's what I do."

 

Laws? 

 

 

That would be funney with a 40 foot tidal difference the rip tides would be like strong rivers at 40 below in a 60 knot wind oh yea go ahead enjoy your beach lol

[metisdead]

Off topic posts about nuclear missiles from Saudi Arabia amid tensions in Iran have been removed.  That discussion can be continued here:

 

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by metisdead

[bristolboy]

16 hours ago, Morch said:

 

The US did use nuclear arms. That was in 1945. US forces carried out numerous military operations since, without use of nuclear arms. No particular reason to assert this will change. NK got it's nuclear military capability relatively recently, and didn't have much opportunity to use it so far.

 

There's also no guarantees as to what NK (read Kim) would or wouldn't do. There's what's assumed to be the sensible thing to do, but that's often commented upon from an outside point of view. Then there are miscalculations and mistakes, both often come with the territory when high-stakes crisis situations.

 

The confidence expressed in SK's military ability to "hold its own" is yet another fact-light wide-brush comment. I doubt some of the more obvious negative scenarios (which were extensively discussed on many past topics) qualify.

 

How the Trump administration handles foreign relations, negotiations and whatnot, is what it is. That said, some of the joint war games etc. with SK were put on hold, and Kim did get his own photo op with the so called leader of the free world - neither were much on offer previously. From NK's end, seems like Trump  got his photo op and bragging rights, plus bodies of US soldiers. Anything related to actual military and nuclear issues, whether agreed upon or announced as goodwill action, turned out to be an illusion. So bottom line, it's pretty much how international negotiations about such things go - small steps over time, a known amount of backtracking and mutual accusations. Not great, certainly not the fast deal Trump tried to market, but not sub-standard either.

As an outcome of negotiations between underlings, not sub-standard. But as a result of a summit conference? You've got to be kidding.

[Morch]

1 hour ago, bristolboy said:

As an outcome of negotiations between underlings, not sub-standard. But as a result of a summit conference? You've got to be kidding.

 

But I'm not. That Trump gave away too much by meeting with Kim face to face, sure. That the whole thing was more of a freak show than actual negotiations, sure. However, it's not as if that was the only contact point between the sides, neither before or after the summit. So bottom line, it's pretty much as expected. Either side gets some token achievement to wave with, while not much headway on core issues.

 

[bristolboy]

10 hours ago, Morch said:

 

But I'm not. That Trump gave away too much by meeting with Kim face to face, sure. That the whole thing was more of a freak show than actual negotiations, sure. However, it's not as if that was the only contact point between the sides, neither before or after the summit. So bottom line, it's pretty much as expected. Either side gets some token achievement to wave with, while not much headway on core issues.

 

Well, as those of us who actually followed what happened after the summit know, the Kim regime repeatedly ignored and disrespected Trump administration negotiators up to and including Pompeo. And that's because they were counting on Trump to undermine and blindside his team as he had done at the summit and afterwards. Hence the North Korean post summit strategy of praising Trump and denigrating his negotiators. They were counting on a repeat performance from Trump at the next summit. With the result being that the second summit was a fiasco.

[Morch]

7 hours ago, bristolboy said:

Well, as those of us who actually followed what happened after the summit know, the Kim regime repeatedly ignored and disrespected Trump administration negotiators up to and including Pompeo. And that's because they were counting on Trump to undermine and blindside his team as he had done at the summit and afterwards. Hence the North Korean post summit strategy of praising Trump and denigrating his negotiators. They were counting on a repeat performance from Trump at the next summit. With the result being that the second summit was a fiasco.

 

Doubt you speak for anyone but yourself, and spare the condescending tone. You know full well I followed the same events, as we partook on related topics here. We're not in disagreement as to Trump's handling of things. My point is that at the bottom line, both sides got token achievements, while not giving much ground on core issues. Not really a success as the Donald and his cohorts try to paint it, but also not close to some of the dire predictions aired beforehand. Could have been worse. Apologies if my posts didn't conform to the expected level of Trump bashing.