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NKorea Tests Weapon, Wants Pompeo Out 04/18 06:33
North Korea said Thursday that it had test-fired a new type of "tactical
guided weapon," its first such test in nearly half a year, and demanded that
Washington remove Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from nuclear negotiations.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea said Thursday that it had test-fired
a new type of "tactical guided weapon," its first such test in nearly half a
year, and demanded that Washington remove Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from
nuclear negotiations.
The test, which didn't appear to be of a banned mid- or long-range ballistic
missile that could scuttle negotiations, allows Pyongyang to show its people it
is pushing ahead with weapons development while also reassuring domestic
military officials worried that diplomacy with Washington signals weakness.
Separately, Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry accused Pompeo of playing down the
significance of comments by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who said last week
that Washington has until the end of the year to offer mutually acceptable
terms for an agreement to salvage the high-stakes nuclear diplomacy. Both the
demand for Pompeo's removal from the talks and the weapon test point to
Pyongyang's displeasure with the deadlocked negotiations.
In a statement issued under the name of Kwon Jong Gun, director general of
the American Affairs Department at Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry, North Korea
accused Pompeo of "talking nonsense" and misrepresenting Kim's comments.
During a speech at Texas A&M on Monday, Pompeo said Kim promised to
denuclearize during his first summit with President Donald Trump and that U.S.
officials were working with the North Koreans to "chart a path forward so we
can get there."
"He (Kim) said he wanted it done by the end of the year," Pompeo said. "I'd
love to see that done sooner."
The North Korean statement said Pompeo was "misrepresenting the meaning of
our requirement" for the negotiations to be finalized by the year's end, and
referred to his "talented skill of fabricating stories." It said Pompeo's
continued participation in the negotiations would ensure that the talks become
"entangled" and called for a different counterpart who is "more careful and
mature in communicating with us."
In a speech at his rubber-stamp parliament last week, Kim said he is open to
a third summit with Trump, but only if the United States changes its stance on
sanctions enforcement and pressure by the end of the year.
Kim observed the unspecified weapon being fired Wednesday by the Academy of
Defense Science, the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency said. Kim was
reported to have said "the development of the weapon system serves as an event
of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People's
Army."
The Associated Press could not independently verify North Korea's claim, and
it wasn't immediately clear what had been tested. A major ballistic missile
test would jeopardize the diplomatic talks meant to provide the North with
concessions in return for disarmament. A South Korean analyst said that details
in the North's media report indicate it could have been a new type of cruise
missile. Another possible clue: one of the lower level officials mentioned in
the North's report on the test --- Pak Jong Chon --- is known as an artillery
official.
Some in Seoul worry that the North will turn back to actions seen as
provocative by outsiders as a way to force Washington to drop its hard-line
negotiating stance and grant the North's demand for a removal of crushing
international sanctions. A string of increasingly powerful weapons tests in
2017 and Trump's response of "fire and fury" had many fearing war before the
North shifted to diplomacy.
Media reports have suggested Kim may visit Vladivostok, Russia, next week
for a summit with President Vladimir Putin. Japan's Fuji Television Network on
Wednesday showed Kim's de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, visiting an area
near Vladivostok's train station.
Trump said last month that he "would be very disappointed if I saw testing."
There have been fresh reports of new activity at a North Korean missile
research center and long-range rocket site where Pyongyang is believed to build
missiles targeting the U.S. mainland. North Korean media said Wednesday that
Kim guided a flight drill of combat pilots from an air force and anti-aircraft
unit tasked with defending Pyongyang from an attack.
Kim Dong-yub, an analyst from Seoul's Institute for Far Eastern Studies,
said North Korea's descriptions of the test show the weapon is possibly a newly
developed cruise missile. The North's report said the "tactical guided weapon"
successfully tested in a "peculiar mode of guiding flight" and demonstrated the
ability to deliver a "powerful warhead."
The analyst said the test could also be intended as a message to the North
Korean people and military of a commitment to maintaining a strong level of
defense even as it continues talks with Washington over nukes.
Melissa Hanham, a non-proliferation expert and director of the Datayo
Project at the One Earth Future Foundation, said the North Korean weapon could
be anything from an anti-tank weapon to a cruise missile.
The North said Thursday that Kim Jong Un mounted an observation post to
learn about and guide the test-fire of the weapon.
This is the first known time Kim has observed the testing of a newly
developed weapon system since last November, when North Korean media said he
watched the successful test of an unspecified "newly developed ultramodern
tactical weapon." Some observers have been expecting North Korea to orchestrate
"low-level provocations," like artillery or short-range missile tests, to
register its anger over the way nuclear negotiations were going.
North Korean officials accompanying Kim at the test included Ri Pyong Chol
and Kim Jong Sik, two senior officials from the North's Munitions Industry
Department who have been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department for their
activities related to the country's ballistic missile program. Ri is believed
to be a key official involved in North Korea's intercontinental ballistic
missile development, while Kim Jong Sik has been linked to the country's
efforts to build solid-fuel missiles. The Pyongyang-based Munitions Industry
Department is sanctioned both by the United States and the U.N. Security
Council.
"Even if this is not a 'missile' test the way we strictly define it, these
people and MID are all sanctioned entities for a reason," Hanham said.
The White House said it was aware of the report and had no comment. The
Pentagon also said it was aware but had no information to provide at this
point. South Korea's presidential office said it has no immediate comment.
South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it is analyzing the test but did not
specifically say what the weapon appeared to be.
After the animosity of 2017, last year saw a stunning turn to diplomacy,
culminating in the first-ever summit between Washington and Pyongyang in
Singapore, and then the Hanoi talks this year. North Korea has suspended
nuclear and long-range rocket tests, and the North and South Korean leaders
have met three times. But there are growing worries that the progress could be
killed by mismatched demands between Washington and Pyongyang over sanctions
relief and disarmament.
(KA)
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