North Korea’s latest weapons tests are a warning to US President Donald Trump that Pyongyang is growing more impatient with the pace of nuclear disarmament talks and might restart long-range launches, analysts said. North Korea’s military fired multiple tactical guided weapons into the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, in a “strike drill” supervised by leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Sunday. The drill was designed to test the performance of “large-calibre long-range multiple rocket launchers and tactical guided weapons by defence units”, KCNA said. The report came a day after the test firing, which analysts saw as an attempt to pressure Washington to give ground in talks to end the North’s nuclear programme after a failed summit in February. Renmin University associate professor of international relations Cheng Xiaohe said the test was the latest sign of Pyongyang’s displeasure over the stalled nuclear talks with the United States. “North Korea is frustrated with the US, in particular, so it tried to do something to press the US,” Cheng said. However, by limiting the tests to short-range missiles or rockets rather than the banned mid- or long-range ballistic missiles, Kim was signalling that “Pyongyang still wants to talk with the US”. North Korea fires several unidentified short-range missiles Jilin University international politics professor Wang Sheng said Kim might have launched the tests because he did not get the US reaction that he had hoped for from his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok late last month. “I think North Korea is anxious because it has an urgent need for domestic economic development, which requires a better international environment. But the US is not in a hurry to reach an agreement,” Wang said. “If this drags on, North Korea might come to believe the Americans are not sincere [in their desire for peace]. So there is a danger that both sides fall back into a tit-for-tat [confrontational] approach.” Stephen Biegun, the US special envoy for North Korea, is due to visit Seoul on Thursday after a stop in Tokyo on Tuesday, where he is expected to meet Japanese and South Korean officials to “discuss efforts to advance the final, fully verified denuclearisation of North Korea”, according to the US Department of State. Cheng said Biegun was expected to “coordinate” with the US allies after South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed sending a special envoy to the North to try to break the deadlock. “[The stalled negotiations] have put huge pressure on Moon’s administration, and Biegun is expected to talk to South Korea officials about what the next move should be and how to coordinate their policies over North Korea,” he said. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ‘unconditionally and with an open mind’ North Korea has maintained a freeze in nuclear and ballistic missiles tests since 2017, a suspensions that US President Donald Trump said was an important achievement from his engagement with Pyongyang. After the weekend tests, Trump said he was still confident he could reach a deal with Kim. “I believe that Kim Jong-un fully realises the great economic potential of North Korea, & will do nothing to interfere or end it,” Trump said on Twitter. “He also knows that I am with him & does not want to break his promise to me. Deal will happen!” Meanwhile, Seoul called on the North to “stop acts that escalate military tension on the Korean peninsula”. Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said the tests aimed at the US. “This is largely a warning to Trump that he could lose the talks unless Washington takes partial denuclearisation steps offered by Kim,” Shin said. “A resumption of long-range tests could be next unless Kim gets what he wants soon.” Talks stalled after a second summit between Kim and Trump in Hanoi in February failed to produce a deal to end Pyongyang’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief. Pyongyang demanded that Washington lift US-led sanctions in return for a partial dismantling of its nuclear weapons programme, while the United States wanted the entire programme rolled back quickly. The North’s last launch was in November 2017, when it tested an intercontinental ballistic missile. Soon after, the North declared that its nuclear force was complete, and extended an olive branch to the South and the United States.
