[단독]Kim Jong-un shot a missile the day after Biden’s inauguration ceremony

North Korea test-fired a cruise missile on the 22nd, the day after US President Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony in January, a revenge source, who requested anonymity, said on the 24th. This means that North Korea has already pressed the Biden administration with missile launches prior to North Korea’s test launch of a cruise missile on the 21st of this month, as reported by US media such as the Washington Post (WP).

According to sources, North Korea launched two cruise missiles on January 22 near Guseong, North Pyongan Province toward the west sea. It is North Korea’s first provocation since the inauguration of the Biden government (2am on January 21st, Korea time).

One source said, “The projectile that North Korea shot last January was judged to be an improved type of cruise missile (Geumseong-3, KN-19) due to its low altitude and slow speed.” Usually cruise missiles fly at a low altitude of 100 to 300 m at a speed of Mach 0.8 (970 km/h). It has different flight characteristics from ballistic missiles or launch guns (multiple rockets).

According to military authorities, two short-range cruise missiles launched by North Korea on the 21st of this month were launched in the morning of the morning from the Oncheon area of ​​Pyongannam-do to the west sea at a time difference. These missiles were considered to be cruise missiles by flying short distances at low altitude. According to sources, the cruise missile launched on the 21st of this month was estimated to be the same as the model launched in January.

A military official said, “The military identified the (cruising missile launch) in real time and captured the related matters under close cooperation between the US and the ROK on the 21st of this month.” North Korea’s cruise missiles are viewed by military authorities as a development of power primarily aimed at US troops attempting to approach or land in North Korea.

The UN Security Council has completely banned North Korea from developing and launching ballistic missiles, but has not yet imposed sanctions on cruise missiles. For this reason, it is interpreted that North Korea’s successive cruise missile launches predicted the possibility of a’greater provocation’ depending on the US response while adjusting the level of provocation in accordance with the inauguration of the Biden government.

North Korea has been sending out messages to the United States by launching missile tests in line with US political events. On July 4, last year, the US Independence Day, he shot a cruise missile into the East Sea.

As North Korea refused to talk with the Biden administration and even launched cruise missiles, the possibility of early resumption of dialogue between the US and the North Korea hoped by the government is getting lower.

In an emergency briefing today, a senior US official said, “I know about the military activities of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) last weekend. It is not subject to sanctions under the UN Security Council resolution that restricts it.” It also said, “It falls into the category of normal military activities in North Korea.”

The intention is to consider North Korea’s launch of cruise missiles as a military provocation and not to heighten tensions between North Korea and the United States. President Joe Biden said, “No,” whether he sees the missile launch as a threat. “According to the Ministry of Defense, this is a business as usual.”

On the surface, however, despite such a cold’ignorance strategy’, the successive launches of North Korea are expected to intensify the negative impression of North Korea in the Biden administration.

In the United States, next weekend, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan invites the heads of the National Security Office of South Korea and Japan to Washington to discuss the North Korean issue intensively through a trilateral consultation. In this position, rather than the policy of involvement with the North Korean government advocated by the South Korean government, it is expected that the focus will be on the principled response of “opening the possibility of diplomacy but resuming pressure on North Korea” (US Secretary of State Tony Blincoln).

The variable is whether or not North Korea’s subsequent provocations. Following the launch in January, before the launch in March, there was a talk of slander by Labor Vice President Kim Yeo-jeong. Kim issued a statement on the 15th, two days before US Secretary of State Tony Blincoln and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to Korea. Will” warned the United States.

As North Korea shot the cruise missile into the West Sea on the first Sunday morning (21st) after this talk, it is observed that the talk of Kim Yeo-jeong was a prediction of the missile launch. This raises the possibility of continuing to raise the level of provocation against the United States.

The more this is, the more the Korean government’s position will shrink. This is why the prospect of restarting the peace process on the Korean peninsula, which the Moon Jae-in administration has set as a key goal for the term of office, is being halted as North Korea and the United States throw only checks instead of dialogue.

Reporters Park Yong-han and Park Hyun-ju, Washington correspondent Park Hyun-young [email protected]