Category: North Korea

North Korea needs a viable ICBM threat to pressure the US in any future negotiations. Is it far fetched to believe that the Biden administration could drop sanctions in return for a freeze on their ICBM program? If offered the Kim regime would probably likely take it because they get to keep their nukes and shorter and medium range missiles to target the ROK and Japan. The money from dropping sanctions can then be used to further modernize their nuclear and ballistic missile programs:

North Korea said Friday that it successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), called the Hwasong-17, the previous day on the direct order of its leader Kim Jong-un.

Making an on-site inspection of the test, Kim stressed his country would be “fully ready for long-standing confrontation with the U.S. imperialists,” according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). 

Kim was quoted as adding, “The new strategic weapon of the DPRK would make the whole world clearly aware of the power of our strategic armed forces once again.” DPRK stands for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Yonhap

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It is important to remember that the North Koreans assuming they have the proper instrumentation can still learn a lot from a failed test to help improve whatever system they were testing:

North Korea fired an apparent ballistic missile Wednesday, but the launch appears to have ended in a failure, South Korea’s military said.

The North shot the projectile from the Sunan area in Pyongyang at around 9:30 a.m., according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). It did not elaborate further, only saying an additional analysis is needed.

The missile appears to have exploded in midair at an altitude of below 20 kilometers, informed sources said later. 

“At this point, our assessment is that the projectile launch appears to have been botched as it failed to reach a certain altitude in its early boost phase,” a JCS official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Military authorities are putting weight to the possibility the latest launch involved the same intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that the North tested on Feb. 27 and March 5.

Yonhap

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It is likely that North Korea is going to use their space program as cover to test ICBMs:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has reportedly ordered the expansion and modernization of a satellite launch site capable of launching intercontinental ballistic missiles(ICBMs).

According to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency on Friday, Kim issued the order during his visit to the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground.

The satellite launch site can be used to launch long-range rockets including the ICBMs.

Kim reportedly inspected the site and ordered modernizing and expanding it to ensure that “various rockets could be launched to carry multi-purpose satellites, including a military reconnaissance satellite.”

KBS World

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With the election of conservative Yoon Suk-yeol in South Korea, it seems that North sees no reason to keep these symbols of prior inter-Korean reconciliation which were in reality just money grabs for the Kim regime:

North Korea appears to have begun to dismantle some of the South Korean-built facilities at the Mount Kumgang resort, a report has said.

Citing satellite images taken from March 5-9 by Planet Labs, the Voice of America said Friday (U.S. time) that the roof of the Haegumgang Hotel had become darker in the photos.

The images also showed that heavy machinery was located in front of the floating hotel.

The previous day, the South Korean government said it had detected similar moves at the resort complex but did not elaborate on which facilities were subject to the suspected dismantling.

The resort area, located on the southeastern coast of North Korea, houses a reunion center and other buildings for tourists from South Korea.

Pyongyang had announced that it would remove the facilities at Mount Kumgang, a rare symbol of inter-Korean collaboration, since its leader Kim Jong-un called for tearing down all “unpleasant-looking” facilities in 2019.

Yonhap

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The North Koreans have already restarted their ICBM testing, so it only makes sense that they will restart nuclear testing as well to further pressure the Biden administration and whoever the new incoming Korean President is:

Satellite images show renewed construction activity at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, almost four years after North Korea demolished most of its facilities at the location before world media in 2018, according to a U.S. think tank on Monday.  
   
The California-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies said it analyzed satellite images of North Korea’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site in North Hamgyong Province and found construction of new buildings and repairs of existing buildings.  
   
The center told Voice of America (VOA) that changes in the site documented through satellite images taken by Maxa Technology on Feb. 18 and March 4 allowed it to determine that renewed construction activity had taken place.  
   
In particular, a vacant lot of land photographed on Feb. 18 had been filled with construction materials by March 4, suggesting the existence of ongoing work at Punggye-ri. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

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