North Korea threatened Thursday, January 20, a possible resumption of its long-range nuclear and ballistic missile tests, during a meeting of the political bureau under the leadership of Kim Jong-un. The Korean president said he was preparing for “a long-term confrontation” with the United States, reported the official North Korean agency KCNA.
Pyongyang has not carried out any long-range ballistic missile nuclear tests since 2017 following an attempt to engage with the United States. Kim Jong-un had met three times with former US President Donald Trump.
But since the failure in 2019 of the summit in Hanoi between the two leaders, the negotiations have been at a standstill. North Korea, endowed with nuclear weapons, has rejected all offers of talks while resuming tests, in particular of hypersonic missiles.
The United States last week imposed new sanctions on Pyongyang which has proceeded since the beginning of January 2022 at several launches, including two tactical guided missiles.
“The hostile policy and military threat of the United States has reached a danger line that can no longer be ignored” and the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party ” has ordered (…) to quickly examine the question of a recovery “ of all temporarily suspended activities, KCNA reported, obviously referring to nuclear and long-range missile programs.
Refusal of dialogue
During the meeting chaired by Kim Jong-un, a report was presented analyzing the conditions on the Korean peninsula and discussing “the orientation of defensive measures against the United States for the future”. According to KCNA, “the United States has slandered our State and committed the senseless act of taking more than twenty sanctions measures”.
This possible resumption of nuclear and ballistic tests comes at a delicate time for the region: a presidential election is scheduled for March in South Korea, and China, North Korea’s only major ally, is preparing to host the Olympic Games in winter in February.
Since the inauguration of President Joe Biden a year ago, Pyongyang has rejected the various proposals for dialogue made by the American administration. Earlier this week, the United States called on North Korea to stop “its illegal and destabilizing activities” while demanding new UN sanctions against Pyongyang.
Resumption of trade with China
But the special representative of China for the Korean peninsula opposed an end of inadmissibility. “The (UN) Security Council does not intend to discuss the so-called draft resolution on sanctions against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”, wrote Liu Xiaoming on Twitter.
The North Korean regime intends more than ever to strengthen its military capabilities in the light of the severe economic crisis the country is going through, aggravated by international sanctions and the strict closure of its borders since 2020 to protect itself from Covid-19.
Recently, however, it has resumed trade with China. Last weekend, a freight train from North Korea arrived in the Chinese border town of Dandong for the first time since early 2020.