North Korea Hasn’t Tested A Missile In Nearly Two Months
- 6 years ago
Questions are being raised about a lack of missile activity from North Korea.
Questions are being raised about a lack of missile activity from North Korea.
ABC News reports Thursday that the last missile test occurred 56 days ago, making it "the longest stretch of time since [President] Trump took office that the regime has not conducted a test."
Before this period, the regime had been conducting launches with some regularity, at times following heated exchanges with the U.S. or after visits to the region by top American officials.
This lack of activity has been particularly noticeable since Trump himself is on an extended visit to Asia where he has repeatedly talked about the North Korean threat.
"I...have come here to this peninsula to deliver a message directly to the leader of the North Korean dictatorship: The weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer," the U.S. president said Tuesday during a speech in South Korea. "They are putting your regime in grave danger. Every step you take down this dark path increases the peril you face."
"All responsible nations must join together to stop arming and financing -- and even trading with -- the murderous North Korean regime," Trump also noted during a press conference in China on Thursday.
Despite Trump's tough talk, he also alluded to the potential for diplomacy. "We seek a future of light, prosperity, and peace," Trump told the audience in South Korea. "But we are only prepared to discuss this brighter path for North Korea if its leaders cease their threats and dismantle their nuclear program."
In the meantime, a North Korean state-run media has responded to some of the rhetoric, at one point reportedly calling Trump a "lunatic old man."
It also said to have reported that its "ballistic rockets are for deterring the U.S. nuclear war hysterics and ensuring peace and security on the Korean peninsula and the region. They are not for threatening Europe and the world."
As for indications of potential future missile activity, CNN noted last week that South Korean intelligence officials had detected movements around a missile lab in Pyongyang which likely means an ongoing development of weapons.
Questions are being raised about a lack of missile activity from North Korea.
ABC News reports Thursday that the last missile test occurred 56 days ago, making it "the longest stretch of time since [President] Trump took office that the regime has not conducted a test."
Before this period, the regime had been conducting launches with some regularity, at times following heated exchanges with the U.S. or after visits to the region by top American officials.
This lack of activity has been particularly noticeable since Trump himself is on an extended visit to Asia where he has repeatedly talked about the North Korean threat.
"I...have come here to this peninsula to deliver a message directly to the leader of the North Korean dictatorship: The weapons you are acquiring are not making you safer," the U.S. president said Tuesday during a speech in South Korea. "They are putting your regime in grave danger. Every step you take down this dark path increases the peril you face."
"All responsible nations must join together to stop arming and financing -- and even trading with -- the murderous North Korean regime," Trump also noted during a press conference in China on Thursday.
Despite Trump's tough talk, he also alluded to the potential for diplomacy. "We seek a future of light, prosperity, and peace," Trump told the audience in South Korea. "But we are only prepared to discuss this brighter path for North Korea if its leaders cease their threats and dismantle their nuclear program."
In the meantime, a North Korean state-run media has responded to some of the rhetoric, at one point reportedly calling Trump a "lunatic old man."
It also said to have reported that its "ballistic rockets are for deterring the U.S. nuclear war hysterics and ensuring peace and security on the Korean peninsula and the region. They are not for threatening Europe and the world."
As for indications of potential future missile activity, CNN noted last week that South Korean intelligence officials had detected movements around a missile lab in Pyongyang which likely means an ongoing development of weapons.