US urges North Korea to stop missile tests and return to negotiations | Nuclear Weapons News

The US envoy stated that Washington is still preparing to meet with Pyongyang “unconditionally.”

A few days after Pyongyang launched its first underwater ballistic missile launch in two years, a senior US diplomat urged North Korea to end a series of recent missile tests and resume negotiations.​​

Kim Sung, a senior US official in charge of North Korea affairs, delivered a speech after meeting with South Korean officials on Sunday to discuss North Korea’s recent missile test at a time when the nuclear diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang was at a stalemate for a long time.

“We call on North Korea to stop these provocations and other destabilizing activities, but to engage in dialogue,” Kim told reporters, referring to North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

He said: “We are still preparing to meet with North Korea without preconditions. We have made it clear that the United States is not hostile to North Korea.”

Last Tuesday, North Korea launched a newly developed ballistic missile from a submarine in the fifth round of weapons tests conducted in recent weeks. South Korean officials said that this submarine-launched missile appears to be in the early stages of development.

Nevertheless, this is still North Korea’s first underwater launch test since October 2019, and it is also the most notable one since President Joe Biden took office in January.

Missiles launched from submarines are more difficult to detect in advance, which will provide North Korea with a secondary retaliatory attack capability.

Kim said that the launch violated a number of resolutions imposed by the UN Security Council on North Korea and “posed a threat to North Korea’s neighbors and the international community.”

The Biden administration has repeatedly stated that it is ready to meet with North Korea “anywhere, anytime” without preconditions.

However, North Korea stated that the condition for resuming negotiations is that the United States abandons its so-called hostile policy towards Pyongyang, which obviously refers to US-led sanctions and regular military exercises between Washington and Seoul.