New missile fire by North Korea shortly before emergency Security Council meeting

Published on : 10/01/2021 – 07:06

North Korea tested, Thursday, September 30, a “recently developed” anti-aircraft missile, a few hours from an emergency meeting of the Security Council requested by Washington, Paris and London about its previous firing.

“The People’s Republic of North Korea carried out a test firing of a recently developed anti-aircraft missile on September 30,” the North Korean agency KCNA said on Friday.

“The remarkable combat performance” of the missile “has been verified, with the introduction of new key technologies,” said the official agency.

A photo of the missile was published in the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

This new firing has the air of provocation, with the approach of the meeting of the Security Council expected on Friday, to discuss precisely the previous missile firing by Pyongyang, presented as hypersonic by the North Koreans.

The emergency meeting was due to be held on Thursday, but it was postponed to Friday at the request of China and Russia.

In 2017, at the initiative of Donald Trump’s administration, the Security Council adopted heavy economic sanctions against Pyongyang after a nuclear test and missile tests.

Since Joe Biden’s administration took office, it has come back to France, a little isolated, to take the front line to demand a closed meeting of the Security Council when Pyongyang carries out a missile test.

Monday, shortly after the firing of the missile presented as hypersonic by North Korea, the North Korean ambassador to the UN, Kim Song, had affirmed before the Annual General Assembly of the United Nations, that his country had a “right legitimate “to test weapons and” to strengthen (its) defense capabilities “.

But for the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, on the contrary, North Korea favors “instability and insecurity”.

“Repeated violations”

“We are worried about these repeated violations of (UN) Security Council resolutions which promote instability and insecurity,” the secretary of state told reporters on the sidelines of discussions in Pittsburgh.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un earlier on Thursday rejected the United States’ offer of dialogue, accusing President Joe Biden of continuing the “hostile acts” of his predecessors, which Washington immediately denied.

The United States is unable at this time to confirm whether the North Korean missile was hypersonic, which would constitute a major technological advance, as hypersonic missiles are capable of reaching speeds at least five times the speed of the his.

“We are in the process of evaluating and analyzing the shots,” detailed the US secretary of state, “to understand exactly what they did, the technology they used”.

With this new shooting Thursday, Pyongyang seeks to bulge the torso and to “exist on the international scene”, analyzes the researcher Ahn Chan-il, former North Korean defector.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in recently reiterated his calls for a formal declaration of an end to the Korean War – hostilities ceased in 1953 with a simple armistice rather than a formal peace treaty.

With its repeated shootings, Pyongyang seeks to “buy time and try to make the best possible use of both Seoul’s proposal to declare the end of the war and Washington’s offer to speak without preconditions”, assures Ahn Chan-il.

The Biden administration has repeatedly said it is ready to resume talks without preconditions, as North Korea calls for an end to sanctions.

With AFP