North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned again that the North could preemptively use its nuclear weapons if threatened.

His latest comments came as he praised his top army officials for a massive military parade in Pyongyang this week. State media reported on Saturday that Kim expressed "firm will" to continue developing his nuclear-armed military so that it could "preemptively and thoroughly contain and frustrate all dangerous attempts and threatening moves, including ever-escalating nuclear threats from hostile forces, if necessary."

The parade on Monday came after a spate of missile tests that underscored Kim's willingness to force the United States to accept the North as a nuclear power and remove crippling economic sanctions.

The FBI and Justice Department recently disrupted the activities of a hacking group that was sponsored by the North Korean government and that targeted U.S. hospitals with ransomware.

The agencies were able to recover half a million dollars in ransom payments. That's according to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. She revealed new details of the attacks during a speech in New York on Tuesday.

She encouraged organizations hit by ransomware to report the crime to law enforcement, both so that officials can investigate and so that they can help victim companies try to get ransom payments back.

In one case, Monaco said, a Kansas hospital that paid a ransom last year after being attacked by ransomware also contacted the FBI, which traced the payment and identified China-based money launderers who assisted the North Korean hackers in cashing out the illicit proceeds. The FBI recovered half a million dollars, including the entire ransom payment from the hospital, the Associated Press reported.

SEOUL, South Korea —

Related video above: Alarms blare in Japan after NKorea missile tests

North Korea fired a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile that landed near Japanese territorial waters Friday, its neighbors said, the second such major weapons test this month that shows its determination to perfect weapons systems targeting the U.S. mainland.

The launch was the latest in a barrage of weapons tests that North Korea has conducted in recent months in response to what it calls U.S. hostility. Some experts say the North is able to perform such a spree of weapons tests partly because China and Russia have opposed U.S. moves to toughen sanctions on North Korea.

The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the suspected ICBM launch from North Korea's capital region at 10:15 a.m. and the weapon flew toward the North's eastern coast across the country. The statement said South Korea's military bolstered its surveillance of North Korea and maintains readiness in close coordination with the United States.

The Japanese Defense Ministry also initially identified the weapon as an ICBM-class ballistic missile. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, visiting Bangkok to attend a regional summit, told reporters it was believed to have landed at sea inside Japan's exclusive economic zone west of Hokkaido, Japan's main northern island.

If confirmed, it would be North Korea’s first ICBM launch in about two weeks. Experts said an ICBM launched by North Korea on Nov. 3 failed to fly its intended flight and fell into the ocean after a stage separation.

The Nov. 3 test was believed to have involved a developmental ICBM called Hwasong-17. North Korea has two other types of ICBM — Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15 — and their test-launches in 2017 proved they could potentially reach parts of the U.S. homeland.

The Hwasong-17 has a longer potential range than the others and its huge size suggests it’s designed to carry multiple nuclear warheads to defeat missile defense systems. Some experts say the Nov. 3 test showed some technological progress in the development of the Hwasong-17, given that in its earlier test in March, the missile exploded soon after liftoff.

“North Korea has been repeatedly firing missiles this year at an unprecedented frequency and is significantly escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamad told reporters.

South Korea’s presidential office said it convened an emergency security meeting to discuss the North Korean launch.

North Korea had halted weapons launches for about a week before it fired a short-range ballistic missile on Thursday.

Before Thursday’s launch, the North’s foreign minister, Choe Son Hui, threatened to launch “fiercer” military responses to the U.S. bolstering its security commitment to its allies South Korea and Japan.

Choe was referring to President Joe Biden’s recent trilateral summit with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts on the sidelines of a regional gathering in Cambodia. In their joint statement, the three leaders strongly condemned North Korea’s recent missile tests and agreed to work together to strengthen deterrence. Biden reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defend South Korea and Japan with a full range of capabilities, including its nuclear arms.

Choe didn’t say what steps North Korea could take but said that “the U.S. will be well aware that it is gambling, for which it will certainly regret.”

Pyongyang sees the U.S. military presence in the region as proof of its hostility toward North Korea. It has said its recent series of weapons launches were its response to what it called provocative military drills between the United States and South Korea.

There have been concerns that North Korea might conduct its first nuclear test in five years as its next major step toward bolstering its military capability against the United States and its allies.

North Korea has been under multiple rounds of U.N. sanctions over its previous nuclear and missile tests. But no fresh sanctions have been applied this year though it has conducted dozens of ballistic missile launches, which are banned by U.N. Security Council resolutions.

That's possible because China and Russia, two of the U.N. council's veto-wielding members, oppose new U.N. sanctions. Washington is locked in a strategic competition with Beijing and in a confrontation with Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

CNN —

North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles into the waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Monday morning, South Korean authorities said, the latest in series of missile firings as South Korean and United States forces engage in their largest military exercises since 2017.

Japanese authorities said the two missiles are suspected of having flown on "an irregular trajectory," with a maximum altitude of 50 kilometers (31 miles) and at a distance of of 350 kilometers (217 miles).

Irregular trajectories could mean the missiles are maneuverable, in contrast to regular ballistic missiles, which travel in an arc.

Video above: State media in North Korea recently claimed its military has tested a nuclear underwater drone that could release a 'radioactive tsunami'

The missile launches come as South Korean and U.S. forces engage in large-scale military exercises involving thousands of troops on the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.

Following Monday's missile launch, the South Korean military said it would continue operating the Warrior Shield field training exercise at high intensity until they end in early April.

Two large U.S. Navy platforms, the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island are near the southern coast of South Korea preparing to participate in exercises later this week.

North Korean missile launches tend to spike when Washington and Seoul hold joint military drills.

The latest U.S.-South Korea exercises are among the largest the two allies have put on since they scaled back such military displays in 2017, when then-U.S. President Donald Trump tried to offer an opening for North Korea to negotiate an end to its long-range missile and nuclear weapons programs.

That opening has long since closed, with North Korea last year conducting a record number of missile tests while pledging to develop its nuclear program to arm the missiles.

The North's missile testing has picked up again in recent weeks, as tensions on the Korean Peninsula continue to escalate.

CNN —

North Korea on Sunday launched a "suspected ballistic missile," Japan's Ministry of Defense reported.

The news follows a flurry of missile tests by North Korea, including the launch of a long-range ballistic missile on Thursday as leaders from South Korea and Japan met in Tokyo.

The Japan Coast Guard said in a statement published at 11:20 a.m. local time that the missile launched on Sunday appeared to have landed.

It cautioned all vessels to await further information; to not approach fallen objects; and to report anything suspicious.

North Korea imported more than 1 million facial masks and 15,000 pairs of rubber gloves from China in July, shortly before declaring victory over COVID-19, Chinese trade figures show.Pyongyang last week declared victory over the coronavirus, ending a little-detailed fight against "fever" cases that had risen to 4.77 million in the country of around 26 million people. It has registered no new such cases since July 29.Still, China exported 1.23 million facial masks to North Korea in July, worth $44,307, surging from 17,000 the previous month, according to data released by Chinese customs at the weekend.From January to July, the last month for which data is available, the North bought more than 11.93 million masks from China, data showed.North Korea did not import any COVID-19 prevention and control products from China in May, the data showed.China's overall exports to North Korea surged to $59.74 million in July from $19.05 million in June.Top exports were semi- or wholly milled rice, cigarettes, disodium carbonate and smoked sheets of natural rubber.North Korea bought $5.16 million worth of semi- or wholly milled rice, $1.98 million of soybean oil and fractions, and $1.21 million of granulated sugar in July, the Chinese customs data showed.China suspended cross-border freight train services with North Korea following consultations due to COVID-19 infections in its border city of Dandong, China's Foreign Ministry said on April 29.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — When you look at a map of the world, you see lines and borders.

Some are created by water, others by man, and, often, by war.

If this week has taught anyone anything, it's that just because a country's borders are drawn a certain way, it doesn't mean they will stay that way.

WEST CONDEMNS RUSSIA

"This aggression cannot go unanswered," President Joe Biden said this week from the White House.

While the President and other world leaders are hoping severe sanctions force Russia to restore the borders in Europe to where they were at the start of the week, the reality is Russia has been interested in re-drawing Ukraine for years.

After all, Ukraine used to be part of the Soviet Union.

In 2014, Russia took Crimea, a part of Ukraine.

This week began with Russia sending troops to the Donbas region.

Now, the Russian military is spread throughout the country. Many military experts agree that Ukraine could fall completely since they are not equipped to fight Russia on their own.

THE WORLD IS WATCHING

A looming question is whether the invasion inspires other world leaders to do the same thing.

It’s something being watched closely in Washington.

For example, China has long wanted to claim Taiwan, an island of 23 million people, as their own.

North Korea has long had an interest in neighboring South Korea.

Iran has also expressed interest in land around the Middle East.

President Biden's statements about war could also lead to more tensions.

He has been very clear he doesn’t want American service members fighting in Ukraine. Last year, he made clear he didn’t want Americans fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

BIDEN'S APPROACH

President Biden does believe that severe economic penalties, like the ones he has imposed on Russia, are enough to end conflicts and prevent future ones.

"America stands up to bullies,” Biden said Thursday.

He also isn't completely opposed to military action, deploying thousands of American troops to eastern Europe who are prepared to fight should the war extend beyond Ukraine's borders.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts were meeting Saturday in Hawaii to discuss the threat posed by nuclear-armed North Korea after Pyongyang began the year with a series of missile tests.

Blinken gathered in Honolulu with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong. Defense chiefs from the three countries last week said North Korea’s recent missile tests were destabilizing regional security.

Some experts say North Korea is using the weapon's tests to put pressure on President Joe Biden’s administration to resume long-stalled nuclear negotiations as the pandemic puts further strain on an economy already battered by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions.

Biden’s administration has offered North Korea open-ended talks but has shown no willingness to ease the sanctions without meaningful cuts to the country’s nuclear program.

The tests also have a technical component, allowing North Korea to hone its weapons arsenal. One of the missiles recently tested — the Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile — is capable of reaching the U.S. territory of Guam. It was the longest-distance weapon the North has tested since 2017.

North Korea appears to be pausing its tests during the Winter Olympics in China, its most important ally and economic lifeline. But analysts believe North Korea will dramatically increase its weapons testing after the Olympics.

The recent tests have rattled Pyongyang's neighbors in South Korea and Japan. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who helped set up the historic talks between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former President Donald Trump in 2018 and 2019, said last month that the tests were a violation UN Security Council resolutions and urged the North to cease “actions that create tensions and pressure.”

The Security Council initially imposed sanctions on North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006. It made them tougher in response to further nuclear tests and the country’s increasingly sophisticated nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

China and Russia, citing the North's economic difficulties, have called for lifting sanctions like those banning seafood exports and prohibitions on its citizens working overseas and sending home their earnings.

Blinken arrived in Hawaii from Fiji, where he met with Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and other Pacific leaders to talk about regional issues, especially the existential risk posed by climate change. It was the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state to Fiji since 1985.

He started his Pacific tour in Australia, where he met his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan. The four nations form the “Quad,” a bloc of Indo-Pacific democracies that was created to counter China’s regional influence.

Hayashi and Chung held a separate bilateral meeting Saturday for about 40 minutes before seeing Blinken. Japan’s Foreign Ministry said they reaffirmed the importance of cooperating together and with the United States to respond to North Korea and to achieve regional stability.

The ministry said they also “frankly” exchanged views on ongoing disputes between the two countries, including wartime Korean laborers and sexual abuse of Korean women forced into sexual servitude by Japan’s imperial army.

Blinken also met separately with Chung. He met Hayashi earlier this week in Australia.

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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

SEOUL, South Korea —

Video above: North Korea tests ‘tactical guided missiles' in mid-January

North Korea on Sunday fired what appeared to be the most powerful missile it has tested since President Joe Biden took office, as it revives its old playbook in brinkmanship to wrest concessions from Washington and neighbors amid a prolonged stalemate in diplomacy.

The Japanese and South Korean militaries said the missile was launched on a lofted trajectory, apparently to avoid the territorial spaces of neighbors, and reached a maximum altitude of 1,242 miles and traveled 497 miles before landing in the sea.

The flight details suggest the North tested its longest-range ballistic missile since 2017, when it twice flew intermediate-range ballistic missiles over Japan and, separately, three intercontinental ballistic missiles that demonstrated the potential to reach deep into the American homeland.

Sunday's test was North Korea’s seventh round of launches this month. The unusually fast pace of tests indicates its intent to pressure the Biden administration over long-stalled nuclear negotiations as pandemic-related difficulties put further stress on an economy broken by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons program.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called an emergency National Security Council meeting where he described the test as a possible “mid-range ballistic missile launch” that brought North Korea to the brink of breaking its 2018 self-imposed moratorium on the testing of nuclear devices and longer-range missiles.

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi also told reporters that the missile was the longest-range the North has tested since its Hwasong-15 ICBM in November 2017.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un chaired a ruling party meeting on Jan. 20, where senior party members made a veiled threat to lift the moratorium, citing what they perceived as U.S. hostility and threats.

The latest launch suggests Kim's moratorium is already broken, said Lee Choon Geun, a missile expert and honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.

In his strongest comments toward the North in years, Moon said the situation around the Korean Peninsula is beginning to resemble 2017, when North Korea’s provocative run in nuclear and long-range missile testing resulted in an exchange of war threats between Kim and Trump.

Moon said the North’s latest moves violated U.N. Security Council resolutions and were a “challenge toward the international community's efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, stabilize peace and find a diplomatic solution” to the nuclear standoff.

The North “should stop its actions that create tensions and pressure and respond to the dialogue offers by the international community including South Korea and the United States,” Moon said, according to his office.

Moon had ambitiously pushed for inter-Korean engagement and held three summits with Kim in 2018 while also lobbying to set up Kim’s first summit with Trump in 2018, where they issued vague aspirations for a nuclear-free peninsula.

But the diplomacy derailed after the collapse of the second Kim-Trump meeting in 2019, when the Americans rejected North Korea’s demand for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Sunday’s missile flew for around 30 minutes and landed in waters outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone. There were no immediate reports of damage to boats or aircraft.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the United States condemned North Korea’s testing activity and called on Pyongyang to refrain from further destabilizing acts. It said the latest launch did not “pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory, or that of our allies.”

Takehiro Funakoshi, director-general for Asian and Oceanian Affairs at Japan’s Foreign Ministry, discussed the launch in separate phone calls with Sung Kim, Biden’s special envoy for North Korea, and Noh Kyu-duk, South Korea’s nuclear envoy. The officials shared an understanding that Sunday’s missile was of enhanced destructive power and reaffirmed trilateral cooperation in the face of the North Korean threat, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said.

Experts say the North could halt its testing spree after the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics next week out of respect for China, its major ally and economic lifeline. But there’s also expectation that it could significantly up the ante in weapons demonstrations once the Olympics end in February to grab the attention of the Biden administration, which has been focusing more on confronting China and Russia over its conflict with Ukraine.

“North Korea is launching a frenzy of missiles before the start of the Beijing Olympics, mostly as military modernization efforts. Pyongyang also wants to boost national pride as it gears up to celebrate political anniversaries in the context of economic struggles,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

“It wants to remind Washington and Seoul that trying to topple it would be too costly. By threatening stability in Asia while global resources are stretched thin elsewhere, Pyongyang is demanding the world compensate it to act like a ‘responsible nuclear power,’” Easley added.

North Korea has justified its testing activity as an exercise of its rights to self-defense and threatened stronger action after the Biden administration imposed fresh sanctions following two tests of a purported hypersonic missile earlier this month.

While desperate for outside relief, Kim has showed no willingness to surrender the nuclear weapons and missiles he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival. Analysts say Kim’s pressure campaign is aimed at forcing Washington to accept the North as a nuclear power and convert their nuclear disarmament-for-aid diplomacy into negotiations for mutual arms-reduction.

Kim last year announced a new five-year plan for developing weapons and issued an ambitious wish list that included hypersonic weapons, spy satellites, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched nuclear missiles.

State media said Friday that Kim visited an unspecified munitions factory producing a “major weapons system,” and that the workers pledged loyalty to their leader who “smashes with his bold pluck the challenges of U.S. imperialists and their vassal forces.”

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Yamaguchi reported from Tokyo.

SEOUL, Seoul —

North Korea on Tuesday test-fired two suspected cruise missiles in its fifth round of weapons launches this month, South Korean military officials said, as it displays its military might amid pandemic-related difficulties and a prolonged freeze in nuclear negotiations with the United States.

One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department rules, said South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials were analyzing the launches, but didn't provide further details. Another military official, who requested anonymity over similar reasons, said the tests were conducted from an inland area, but didn't specify where.

North Korea has been increasing its testing activity recently in an apparent effort to pressure the Biden administration over the stalled diplomacy after the pandemic unleashed further shock on an economy broken by crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons program and decades of mismanagement by its own government.

North Korea last Thursday issued a veiled threat to resume the testing of nuclear explosives and long-range missiles targeting the American homeland, which leader Kim Jong Un suspended in 2018 while initiating diplomacy with the United States.

Some experts say North Korea could dramatically escalate weapons demonstrations after the Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 4 in China, the North's main ally and economic lifeline.

They say Pyongyang's leadership likely feels it could use a dramatic provocation to move the needle with the Biden administration, which has offered open-ended talks but showed no willingness to ease sanctions unless Kim takes real steps to abandon the nuclear weapons and missiles he sees as his strongest guarantee of survival.

Tuesday's launches could have been follow-up tests of a weapon North Korea has described as a long-range cruise missile and first tested in September, said Kim Dong-yub, a professor at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.

State media in reports at the time said the missiles were fired from launcher trucks and could strike targets 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) away. It described those missiles as a "strategic weapon of great significance" — wording that implies they were developed to carry nuclear weapons.

While halting the tests of nuclear devices and intercontinental range ballistic missiles, Kim Jong Un since 2019 has been ramping up tests of various shorter-range weapons apparently designed to overwhelm missile defenses in the region. Experts say the North's expanding missile arsenal reflects an aim to apply more pressure on its rivals to accept it as a nuclear power in hopes of winning relief from economic sanctions and convert the diplomacy with Washington into mutual arms-reduction negotiations.

SEOUL, South Korea —

North Korea on Monday fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its fourth weapons launch this month, South Korea’s military said, with the apparent goal of demonstrating its military might amid paused diplomacy with the United States and pandemic border closures.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North likely fired two short-range ballistic missiles from an area in Sunan, the location of Pyongyang’s international airport, but didn’t immediately say how far they flew.

The launch was also detected by Japan, where Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed his government to do its utmost to gather information about the missiles, which Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone.

Japan’s Coast Guard issued a warning for vessels traveling around Japanese waters to watch out for falling objects, but no immediate damage was reported to vessels or aircraft.

“We strongly condemn the series of North Korean actions, including the repeated launches of ballistic missiles, that threaten the peace and security of Japan, the region, and the international community,” said Hirokazu Matsuno, Tokyo’s chief cabinet secretary.

The launch came after the North conducted a pair of flight tests of a purported hypersonic missile on Jan. 5 and Jan. 11 and also test-fired ballistic missiles from a train Friday in an apparent reprisal over fresh sanctions imposed by the Biden administration last week for its continuing test launches.

North Korea has been ramping up tests in recent months of new missiles designed to overwhelm missile defenses in the region.

Some experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is going back to a tried-and-true technique of pressuring the U.S. and regional neighbors with missile launches and outrageous threats before offering negotiations meant to extract concessions.

A U.S.-led diplomatic push aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program collapsed in 2019 after the Trump administration rejected the North’s demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

Kim has since pledged to further expand a nuclear arsenal he clearly sees as his strongest guarantee of survival, despite the country’s economy suffering major setbacks amid pandemic-related border closures and persistent U.S.-led sanctions.

His government has so far rejected the Biden administration’s call to resume dialogue without preconditions, saying that Washington must first abandon its “hostile policy,” a term Pyongyang mainly uses to describe sanctions and combined U.S.-South Korea military exercises.

Kim Dong-yub, a professor at Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies, said the North may have conducted another launch to pressure Washington and could continue to dial up its testing activity after vowing stronger action over what it perceives as U.S. hostility.

Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on five North Koreans over their roles in obtaining equipment and technology for the North’s missile programs in its response to the North’s earlier tests this month.

The State Department ordered sanctions against another North Korean, a Russian man and a Russian company for their broader support of North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction activities, and the Biden administration also said it would pursue additional U.N. sanctions over the North’s continued tests.

The announcement of the sanctions just came hours after North Korean state media said Kim Jong Un oversaw a successful test of a hypersonic missile on Tuesday, which was the country’s second test of the system in a week, and claimed that the weapon would greatly increase the country’s “war deterrent.”

The North also on Friday fired two short-range ballistic missiles from a train in an apparent retaliation against the fresh U.S. sanctions tied to the hypersonic tests. Friday’s test came hours after the North’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement berating the Biden administration over the new sanctions and warned of “stronger and certain reaction” if Washington maintains its confrontational stance.

A U.S.-led diplomatic push aimed at convincing North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program collapsed in 2019 after the Trump administration rejected the North’s demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

Kim has since pledged to further expand a nuclear arsenal he clearly sees as his strongest guarantee of survival, despite the country’s economy suffering major setbacks amid pandemic-related border closures and persistent U.S.-led sanctions.

His government has so far rejected the Biden administration’s call to resume dialogue without preconditions, saying that Washington must first abandon its “hostile policy,” a term Pyongyang mainly uses to describe sanctions and combined U.S.-South Korea military exercises.

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AP writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

North Korea said it successfully test-fired a hypersonic missile on Wednesday, the state-run news agency KCNA reported Thursday.

According to the report, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not attend the launch.

Related video above from December: Kim Jong Un marks decade of North Korea rule

"The successive successful test launches in the hypersonic missile sector have a strategic significance of accelerating the task of modernizing the national strategic force suggested by the 8th Party Congress and completing the most important task among the top five tasks in the strategic weapons sector of the five-year plan," KCNA said.

The missile was separated after launch, maneuvered 74.5 miles from the initial launch, and hit the target set at 435 miles without an error, KCNA reported.

The Japan Coast Guard said after reports of the launch Wednesday that the projectile fell into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.

Shortly after the launch Wednesday, South Korea's National Security Council expressed concerns over North Korea's launch of a missile, which it presumed to be a ballistic missile, and called for resumption of dialogue with North Korea to ease tension in inter-Korean relations, according to the Blue House, South Korea's presidential office.

South Korea's Unification Ministry urged North Korea to respond to its efforts to reach peace and cooperation through dialogue.

Last September, North Korea said it had tested a new hypersonic missile, Hawasong-8, from Toyang-ri, Ryongrim County of Jagang province.

SEOUL, South Korea —

South Korea's president said Monday he'll keep striving to promote peace with North Korea through dialogue until the end of his term next May, after Pyongyang raised animosities with a resumption of provocative weapons tests.

While launching a spate of newly developed weapons in recent weeks, North Korea has also slammed Washington and Seoul over what it calls hostility toward the North. Its actions indicate North Korea wants its rivals to ease economic sanctions against it and accept it as a legitimate nuclear state, experts say.

In his final policy speech at parliament, President Moon Jae-in said he'll "make efforts to the end to help a new order for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula be established through dialogue and diplomacy."

Moon, a champion of greater reconciliation with North Korea, once shuttled between Pyongyang and Washington to help facilitate now-stalled nuclear diplomacy between the two countries. Pyongyang turned a cold shoulder on Moon after its diplomacy with Washington broke down in early 2019 amid bickering over the sanctions.

Moon praised himself for paving the way for a peace process on the Korean Peninsula by holding three summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and helping arrange the first-ever North Korea-U.S. summit between Kim and then-President Donald Trump in 2018.

But Moon acknowledged his push for peace through dialogue remains "incomplete."

Moon's single five-year term ends next May, and he's barred by law from seeking reelection. The presidential candidate of Moon's ruling liberal party has unveiled a similar North Korea policy as Moon's. Surveys indicate a neck-and-neck race with a potential conservative candidate, who will likely take a harder line on the North.

The North Korean weapons systems tested recently are mostly short- and medium-range weapons that place South Korea and Japan within their striking ranges. Last Tuesday, North Korea fired a ballistic missile from a submarine in its most significant weapons test since President Joe Biden took office in January.

Some experts say North Korea may test a longer-range missile that could pose a direct threat to the American homeland to increase its pressure on Washington in coming weeks.

In part of his efforts to ease tensions and promote peace, Moon has recently been pushing for a symbolic declaration to end the 1950-53 Korean War as a way to promote peace. When Moon meets Pope Francis at the Vatican this week, they'll discuss a possible North Korea trip by Francis as he has expressed hopes for that several times, according to Moon's office.

SEOUL, Seoul —

North Korea's recent sword-rattling after months of relative quiet makes clear that leader Kim Jong Un is working on expanding his weapons arsenal.

Nuclear-capable missiles hidden in trains that can be launched anywhere along a railway. A new cruise missile resembling the U.S. Tomahawk that can be potentially topped with atomic warheads. The apparent resumption of making fuel for potential nuclear bombs.

Likely they are an attempt to wrest concessions from Washington if, and when, long-stalled diplomatic talks on Kim's nuclear program resume. Part of the message is aimed domestically, however, to reinforce internal unity as North Koreans cope with deeper hardship in a never-healthy economy that's been battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Here, then, is a look at Kim's recent weapons tests, the first of their kind in six months, and what they may mean for efforts to confront the North's nuclear ambitions.

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THE NEW WEAPONS

North Korea called its first train-launched ballistic missile tests successful, saying the two weapons launched Wednesday struck a target in the sea 800 kilometers (500 miles) away.

That puts all of South Korea and the U.S. military bases it hosts in range. Experts say the missiles are nuclear-capable.

Firing from trains also adds another platform for missile launches — in addition to mobile trucks, ground pads and a submarine method still being tested. A train-based platform utilizes North Korea's national rail network and allows for secret movement and launch, although experts note rail networks are vulnerable targets in a crisis.

For South Korea, "which has to defend itself from North Korean missiles, it's yet another headache," said Lee Choon Geun, a missile expert at South Korea's Science and Technology Policy Institute.

Last weekend, North Korea also tested what it called a new cruise missile, which flew about 1,500 kilometers (930 miles), making it the North's longest-range cruise missile, capable of reaching all of Japan, which is also home to 50,000 U.S. troops.

It's being developed as nuclear capable and flies at a low altitude, making it harder to detect. Its development demonstrates North Korea's push to break enemy defense lines and diversify a weapons inventory that's heavy on ballistic missiles.

Satellite photos also show signs North Korea has restarted operations at its main factory for producing weapons-grade plutonium, a key ingredient used to make nuclear weapons.

WHAT KIM WANTS

Kim's resumed testing activities are largely meant "for developing military capabilities, but can also be attempts at shoring up domestic unity," said Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. "Pyongyang could launch a provocation even when in desperate economic need because it wants to hide its weaknesses and extract external concessions."

Kim may also be going back to a tried-and-true technique of pressuring the world with missile launches and outrageous threats before offering negotiations at the last minute meant to extract aid.

"It bears further watching on how things go, but it's possible that we are near another phase in (North Korean) brinkmanship," said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korea studies at Ewha Womans University.

North Korea's recent tests could be low-key reactions to the continuation of joint U.S.-South Korean military drills and to South Korean efforts to build up its arms programs.

Kim's ultimate goal is likely winning relief from crippling international economic sanctions even as he gains U.S. recognition as a nuclear state, allowing him to hold onto nuclear weapons that he may see as his only guarantee for survival.

WHAT'S NEXT?

North Korea may keep ramping up its pressure campaign, at least until China starts pushing for calm ahead of the Beijing Olympics early next year. But it still could hold back on tests of more provocative weapons as it looks for less coercive diplomacy.

The North will have until around November to advance its weapons development with testing, Park, the analyst, said. After that, it risks hurting relations with China.

North Korea may also conduct another weapons test around a major state anniversary, like the ruling Workers' Party foundation day on Oct. 10.

"For upgrading weapons capabilities, next in the testing queue may not be a nuclear device or ICBM but a submarine-based system," Easley said.

Despite its recent weapons tests, North Korea has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests for more than three years. That suggests that it still wants to keep chances for future diplomacy with Washington alive.

It's possible that Pyongyang is carefully measuring its actions while looking for a window back into diplomacy.

"It wouldn't be surprising if the North makes some effort soon to reach out to Washington or to Seoul, if just only to measure their intent," said Hong Min, an analyst at Seoul's Korea Institute for National Unification.

The U.N. atomic agency says North Korea appears to have restarted the operation of its main nuclear reactor used to produce weapons fuels.

The annual report by the International Atomic Energy Agency comes as North Korea openly threatens to enlarge its nuclear arsenal amid long-dormant nuclear diplomacy with the United States.

The report refers to a 5-megawatt reactor at the North's main nuclear complex in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang. The reactor produces plutonium, one of the two key ingredients to build nuclear weapons along with highly enriched uranium.

"Since early July 2021, there have been indications, including the discharge of cooling water, consistent with the operation of the reactor," said the IAEA report dated Friday.

The agency uses satellite imagery and open-source information to monitor developments in North Korea's nuclear program.

"(North Korea's) nuclear activities continue to be a cause for serious concern. Furthermore, the new indications of the operation of the 5-megawatt reactor and the radiochemical laboratory are deeply troubling," the IAEA said.

According to the Associated Press, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un offered to dismantle the nuclear complex in a 2019 summit with President Donald Trump if the U.S. agreed to lift some sanctions on the country. The Americans ultimately rejected the offer because it would only be a partial surrender of North Korea's nuclear capability.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his government to be prepared for both dialogue and confrontation with the Biden administration, but more for confrontation, state media reported Friday, days after the United States and others urged the North to abandon its nuclear program and return to talks.

Kim's statement indicates he'll likely push to strengthen his nuclear arsenal and increase pressure on Washington to give up what North Korea considers a hostile policy toward the North, though he'll also prepare for talks to resume, some experts say.

During an ongoing ruling party meeting Thursday, Kim analyzed in detail the policy tendencies of the U.S. under President Joe Biden and clarified steps to be taken in relations with Washington, the Korean Central News Agency said. It did not specify the steps.

Kim "stressed the need to get prepared for both dialogue and confrontation, especially to get fully prepared for confrontation in order to protect the dignity of our state" and ensure national security, it said.

In 2018-19, Kim held a series of summits with then-President Donald Trump to discuss North Korea's advancing nuclear arsenal. But the negotiations fell apart after Trump rejected Kim's calls for extensive sanctions relief in return for a partial surrender of his nuclear capability. 

Biden's administration has worked to formulate a new approach on North Korea's nuclear program that it describes as "calibrated and practical." Details of his North Korea policy haven't been publicized, but U.S. officials have suggested Biden will seek a middle ground between Trump's direct meetings with Kim and former President Barack Obama's "strategic patience" to curb Kim's nuclear program. 

Earlier this week, leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations issued a statement calling for the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and "the verifiable and irreversible abandonment" of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. They called on North Korea to engage and resume dialogue. 

Sung Kim, the top U.S. official on North Korea, is to visit Seoul on Saturday for a trilateral meeting with South Korean and Japanese officials. His travel emphasizes the importance of three-way cooperation in working toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the State Department said.

Kim Jong Un has recently threatened to enlarge his nuclear arsenal and build high-tech weapons targeting the U.S. mainland if Washington refuses to abandon its hostile policy toward North Korea. 

In March, Kim's military performed its first short-range ballistic missile tests in a year. But North Korea is still maintaining a moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear tests in an indication that Kim still wants to keep prospects for diplomacy alive. 

Kwak Gil Sup, head of One Korea Center, a website specializing in North Korea affairs, wrote on Facebook that Kim's statement suggested he's taking a two-track approach of bolstering military capability and preparing for talks. But he said Kim will more likely focus on boosting military strength and repeating his demand for the U.S. to withdraw its hostile policy, rather than hastily returning to talks.

Kim said last week North Korea's military must stay on high alert to defend national security.

Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said North Korea will likely return to talks but won't accept a call for immediate, complete denuclearization. He said North Korea may accede to a proposal to freeze its atomic program and partially reduce its nuclear arsenal in phased steps if the Biden administration relaxes sanctions and suspends its regular military drills with South Korea.

Cha Duck Chul, a deputy spokesman at South Korea's Unification Ministry, said it's closely monitoring the North's ongoing political meeting and wants to reemphasize the best way to achieve peace on the Korean Peninsula is through dialogue.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijiang called for renewed dialogue between North Korea and the U.S., saying that "We believe that the Korean Peninsula situation is facing a new round of tension."

Kim called the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee meeting taking place this week to review efforts to rebuild the economy, which has been severely crippled by pandemic border closings, mismanagement amid the U.S.-led sanctions, and storm damage to crops and infrastructure last year.

On Tuesday, Kim opened the meeting by warning of potential food shortages, urging officials to find ways to boost agricultural production because the country's food situation "is now getting tense." He also urged the country to brace for extended COVID-19 restrictions, suggesting North Korea would extend its border closure and other steps despite the stress on its economy.

WASHINGTON —

President Joe Biden on Friday said he and South Korean President Moon Jae-in remain "deeply concerned" about the situation with North Korea, and announced he will deploy a new special envoy to the region to help refocus efforts on pressing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

Moon, meanwhile, welcomed "America's return" to the world stage and said both leaders pledged to work closely toward denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Biden said he was dispatching career diplomat Sung Kim, who previously served as ambassador to South Korea, to serve as the special envoy to the region.

Moon said the move by Biden "reflects the firm commitment of the U.S. for exploring diplomacy and its readiness for dialogue with North Korea."

Moon came to Washington seeking renewed diplomatic urgency by the U.S. on curbing North Korea's nuclear program, even as the White House signaled that it is taking a longer view on the issue. High on Biden's list for the meeting as well: coordination in vaccine distribution, climate change and regional security concerns spurred by China.

Their meeting was only Biden's second in-person session with a foreign leader because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Moon said after the meeting the two had "a very frank dialogue like old friends" and emphasized the need for cooperation on security issues in the region.

"The most urgent common task that our two countries must undertake is achieving complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean peninsula," he said.

Moon said the two "reaffirmed the strength" of the nations' alliance and "affirmed the common vision for developing it into an even stronger one."

Their formal talks in the afternoon ran long, Biden said in earlier remarks, noting his staff interrupted repeatedly to warn they were over time. "But I enjoyed the meeting so much that it caused us to move everything back," Biden said, as he highlighted the two countries' "long history of shared sacrifice."

Moon said "The world is welcoming America's return," an oblique reference to former President Donald Trump's attempts to disengage on some aspects of American diplomacy.

The White House announced last month that it had completed a review of North Korea policy and Biden would veer from the strategies of his two most recent predecessors, rejecting both Trump's deeply personal effort to win over North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Barack Obama's more hands-off approach.

But the administration has yet to detail what its third-way effort to try to prod the North to abandon its nuclear program will look like.

Moon started his day at the White House complex by meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris and top Biden advisers. Moon also participated in a Medal of Honor ceremony for Ralph Puckett, a 94-year-old Army veteran who was celebrated for his gallantry during the Korean War more than 70 years ago.

"Without the sacrifice of veterans including Colonel Puckett ... freedom and democracy we enjoy today couldn't have blossomed in Korea," said Moon, who hailed Puckett as "true hero."

Moon, who will leave office next May, is eager to resume stalled talks between Washington and Pyongyang and between Seoul and Pyongyang. But the Biden administration, which confirmed in March that it had made outreach efforts to the North without success, has been less enthusiastic about the idea of direct negotiations in the near term.

Asked Thursday whether Biden was open to holding direct talks with Kim, as Trump did twice, press secretary Jen Psaki demurred.

"I don't expect that to be top on his agenda," she said of Biden.

Still, Moon made clear before the meeting that he would nudge Biden to renew diplomatic efforts with the North.

"I will not be pressed by time or become impatient during the remainder of my term," Moon told reporters this month. "However, if there is an opportunity to restart the clock of peace and advance the peace process on the Korean Peninsula, I will do everything I can."

A senior administration official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and briefed reporters on Moon's visit on the condition of anonymity, sidestepped questions about whether the administration was willing to offer North Korea sanctions relief to begin dismantling its nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.

The official said the U.S. was hoping to chart a "flexible" way forward, well aware of where past efforts went awry.

Biden was also expected to use the meeting to press South Korea to adopt a more ambitious 2030 target for curbing carbon emissions and to urge Seoul to do more to counter China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

Moon was expected to seek Biden's assistance with helping South Korea boost its coronavirus vaccine supply. South Korea has vaccinated only about 5% of its population.

Biden also wanted Moon to take a strong stance on China's activity toward Taiwan and other provocative moves Beijing has made in the region. Biden has sought to rally Pacific allies to coordinate on China, which Biden sees as the United States' fiercest economic competitor.

Biden, in the early going of his presidency, has spoken out about concerns with Beijing's trade policies and human rights record and has also highlighted regional allies' concerns about an increasingly assertive Chinese military.

Biden has taken note of Japan's concerns that China's growing military activity and broad territorial claims present a security threat. Japan is locked in a dispute with China over Beijing's claim to the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, called Diaoyu in China, in the East China Sea. He's also looked to strengthen relations with India, which has been tested by a military standoff with China along their disputed border in eastern Ladakh.

But South Korea could be more reluctant to speak out about China, an important trading partner that it also sees as key in dealing with the Kim regime. Moon told reporters at the leaders' joint press conference after their meeting that "there was not pressure" on the issue applied by Biden.

Michael Green, who served as senior director for Asia on the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, said South Korea's situation is difficult.

"This South Korean policy of strategic ambiguity is proving increasingly awkward and almost untenable for Seoul because other middle powers that are not the U.S. or Japan ... are adjusting their China policies," said Green, who is senior vice president for Asia and Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Moon on Thursday visited Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington and laid a wreath at a memorial to Americans killed during the Korean War. He also visited the U.S. Capitol to meet with Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.