Military tensions are not falling on the Korean peninsula. As fears of a seventh nuclear test by North Korea are growing, the North Korean army fired two cruise missiles this morning towards the Yellow Sea. A new bravado against the backdrop of an attempt at rapprochement by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol who highlighted two days earlier a “ bold move intended to improve the economic situation of the hermit kingdom.
With our correspondent in Seoul, Louis Palligiano
Seoul’s pledge to provide economic aid in large scale if Pyongyang begins denuclearization measures does not seem to have cajoled the Kim Jong-un regime. While the South Korean head of state Yoon Suk-yeol held a press conference this Wednesday morning, August 17, marking the 100th day since his inauguration – where he notably mentioned the establishment of a food program as well as infrastructure projects that could benefit the North – the North Korean army carried out test firings of two cruise missiles towards the Yellow Sea .
With these first known cruise missile launches since January, North Korea is likely showing its displeasure with the annual combined South Korean-US exercise Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) due to begin on Monday. next. Of the maneuvers inevitably qualified as a rehearsal of invasion by Pyongyang, which uses it as a pretext to justify its nuclear weapons programme.
North Korea’s test of a cruise missile does not, however, violate United Nations Security Council resolutions that prohibit any launch using ballistic missile technologies.