North Korea Fires First Missiles During Biden Presidency U.S. says Kim regime launched short-range missiles, protesting joint American-South Korean military exercises
North Korea launched several short-range missiles over the weekend, U.S. and South Korean officials said, in a show of defiance against President Biden and his administration that was widely expected after joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises.
The weekend launches caused no damage and are being viewed more as a symbolic show of strength than one intended to inflict damage or hit any specific targets, according to two U.S. officials.
U.S. officials declined to provide details about the short-range missile launches or even how many were launched. The launches aren’t covered by the United Nations Security Council resolutions that govern such activity, and they were on the “low end” of routine activity from the North Koreans, two senior administration officials said.
President Biden said he didn’t consider the launch a provocation.
“According to the Defense Department, it’s business as usual,” he said at the White House. “There is no new wrinkle in what they did.”
A senior U.S. official said Pyongyang “has a clear menu of provocations when it wants to send a message,” and “what took place last weekend is falling on the low end of that spectrum.”
On Wednesday, Seoul’s military said North Korea had fired two projectiles that appeared to be cruise missiles. The Sunday-morning launches occurred about 30 miles west of Pyongyang, the military said.
South Korean defense officials said the previous day that they were monitoring unusual activity by North Korea’s military in a sector close to the South Korean border. It wasn’t the same area where the suspected missile launches took place.
North Korea frequently fired off short-range missiles even as negotiations between leader Kim Jong Un and then-President Donald Trump’s administration inched on. At the time, Mr. Trump and his administration maintained that the short-range missiles didn’t violate the terms laid out in his discussions with Pyongyang, which failed to yield an accord. CBS News earlier reported the missile launches.
The Biden administration is nearing the end of a review of its policy with North Korea, the senior administration officials said. Next week, national-security adviser Jake Sullivan is expected to meet in person in Washington with counterparts from South Korea and Japan to discuss the U.S. posture with regard to North Korea, the officials said. It follows visits by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who traveled to Tokyo and Seoul last week.
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