Sung Kim, US diplomat on North Korean affairs, says the US remains willing to negotiate with North Korea

US urges North Korea to use dialogue and cease "provocations"

photo_camera AFP/BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI - North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un

North Korea continues to engage in a relentless arms race. Just this week we learned of the firing of a "new type" of ballistic missile from a submarine (SLBM). According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the missile had "many advanced control guidance technologies". This is the first time North Korea has tested an SLBM since October 2019.

KCNA's own images show a missile that is thinner and smaller than previous designs. This could mean, according to expert analysts, that the same submarine could store a larger number of missiles, albeit with a shorter range. 

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In turn, this would show that the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, has been upgrading its military arsenal after the failure of the Hanoi summit between former US President Donald Trump and current North Korean President Kim Jong-un. 

Submarine-launched ballistic missiles are harder to detect. This would give North Korea a new strike capability, and could pose a greater threat.

Sung Kim urged North Korea to "cease these provocations and other destabilising activities and instead engage in dialogue". 

Kim met in Seoul with his South Korean counterpart, Noh Kyu-duk, to discuss the proposal to formally declare an end to the state of war that, according to the South Korean representative, has existed since the 1953 Korean War ended in an armistice rather than a peace treaty. 

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"We remain willing to meet with the DPRK without preconditions and have made it clear that the United States harbours no hostile intentions towards the DPRK," Kim said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

In addition to the US, several countries condemn this action for violating multiple UN Security Council resolutions. However, there have been no statements from China and Russia, two other permanent members of the Security Council.

Pyongyang argued that the test was necessary as a "defensive" measure, and accused the US of failing to proclaim a sincere negotiating offer after overreacting to it. 

"It is a clear double standard for the US to denounce us for developing and testing the same weapons system it already has or was developing, and that only adds suspicion to their sincerity after saying they have no hostility toward us," a foreign ministry spokesman said in a KCNA statement.

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