North Korea launches missile barrage after dismissing Donald Trump’s overture
Kim Jong Un’s sister casts doubt on claim of communication between Pyongyang and Washington
Daniel Tudor in Busan
North Korea has fired a barrage of ballistic missiles, just hours after dismissing US President Donald Trump’s overture to reopen diplomatic contacts between Pyongyang and Washington.
South Korea’s military said on Thursday that its northern adversary had launched about 10 short-range ballistic missiles eastward into the sea.
South Korea’s presidential Blue House called on Pyongyang to immediately suspend provocative actions.
The salvo came hours after Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, brushed off Trump’s move to scale back military exercises with South Korea this week and cast doubt on the US president’s claim that there had been communication between Washington and Pyongyang.
Kim Yo Jong, who sometimes speaks on behalf of the regime, said in a statement late on Wednesday that the US move was “not even worth commenting on” and that reducing the size or duration of the drills did not change their “provocative and aggressive” nature.
If the US saw it “as some kind of ‘goodwill measure’, they will not get the answer they desire”, she said.
Ulchi Freedom Shield, one of the two major annual US-South Korean military exercises, is aimed at preparing the forces for potential conflict with North Korea.
Trump described the drills as “inappropriate” and hostile to North Korea on Monday hours before they were set to begin.
Seoul later announced that the drills would end on Friday, six days earlier than planned.
Kim Yo Jong also said she was “completely unaware” of any contacts between her brother and the Trump administration, but added that Kim Jong Un had “fond personal memories and feelings” towards Trump and that relations between the two leaders remained “excellent”.
The two met three times during Trump’s first term for denuclearisation talks that were ultimately unsuccessful.
Trump has reportedly been urging aides to arrange another summit by autumn, saying that he expects to meet Kim again as he seeks to revive personal diplomacy.
US soldiers dismantle a floating bridge during a training exercise in South Korea near the border with North Korea on Thursday © AP Photo/Ahn Young-joonKim Yo Jong’s response to Trump’s overture, “though negative, is displaying some re-engagement which has been absent up until now”, said Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Cha also noted it was her typical role to play “bad cop” to her brother’s “good cop” when dealing with the US.
“It is difficult to interpret this announcement as a rejection of US-North Korea dialogue itself,” said Choi Eunju of the Sejong Institute.
Pyongyang was maintaining its demand for a change in US policy while “leaving the personal relationship between the leaders as a separate channel that could be used in the future”, she added.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, in a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Seoul on Thursday, called on the US to “abandon its hostile policy towards North Korea” and said both sides should “restart dialogue and restore mutual trust”, according to a Chinese readout.
Any renewed summitry would take place with North Korea in a stronger position than during Trump’s first term.
On Wednesday, Trump acknowledged this, telling reporters North Korea now had “57 very powerful nuclear weapons”.
Pyongyang has also expanded its conventional arsenal and formed a strategic alliance with Russia, sending troops and weapons to support Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine in return for cash and military technology.
In her statement, Kim Yo Jong referenced Russia five times and said her country “fully supports the just actions” of Moscow in Ukraine.
She also rejected as “entirely baseless” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claim that Pyongyang was preparing to send up to 50,000 troops to support Russia.
Sejong Institute’s Choi said: “The message is that the US also needs to take into account the changed international environment and North Korea’s strategic position compared with 2018-19.”
Just two hours after Kim Yo Jong’s statement, Lee, the South Korean president, took a more optimistic tone in a post on X.
Despite the criticism of Seoul in Trump’s announcement, Lee said Trump’s move “feels like a momentous decision born out of deep deliberation to move beyond hostility and confrontation towards building peace on the Korean Peninsula”.
He added he hoped it would “lead to the resumption of dialogue and ultimately bring about a stable peace regime”.
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