N Korea fires projectile, UN envoy says has right to test arms

DEVELOPING STORY

South Korea says unidentified projectile was fired early on Tuesday morning, the third weapons launch this month.

North Korea fired at least one projectile into the sea early on Tuesday morning, officials in South Korea and Japan said, shortly before Pyongyang’s representative told the United Nations the country had the “righteous right” to test weapons because of the “hostile” policies directed against it.

At least one unidentified projectile was launched into the sea off North Korea’s eastern coast on Tuesday at about 6.40am local time (21:40 GMT), South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. Officials

Japan’s Defence Ministry said North Korea fired a possible ballistic missile but gave no further details.

It is the third launch this month after Pyongyang previously tested a “strategic” cruise missile and two railway-borne ballistic missiles.

The JCS did not immediately offer details about Tuesday’s launch, including whether or not the projectile was a ballistic missile banned under United Nations Security Council resolutions, how far it flew and where the launch took place, Yonhap news agency said. Intelligence services from South Korea and the US were analysing the details of the launch.

The launch took place less than hour before North Korea’s UN envoy, Kim Song, addressed the organisation’s annual meeting in New York.

Kim told the UN that Pyongyang had a “righteous right to self-defence” to develop weapons.

“We are just building up our national defence in order to defend ourselves and reliably safeguard the security and peace of the country,” he said, noting the US had nearly 30,000 troops stationed in the South and that there had been no formal treaty to end the Korean War.

The North invaded the South in 1950 and fighting came to an end three years later with an armistice, leaving the two countries technically still in a state of conflict.

If the US gave up its hostility, North Korea would “respond willingly at any time”, Kim told UN delegates in his speech.

“But it is our judgement that there is no prospect at the present stage for the US to really withdraw its hostile policy.”

US president Joe Biden initiated a review of the country’s North Korea policies after taking office in January. Washington has said while it is ready to hold talks with Pyongyang anywhere at any time there will be no “grand bargain”.

In recent days, Pyongyang has given the impression it might be ready to resume engagement with Seoul, after South Korean President Moon Jae-in used his address to the UN last week to reiterate his longstanding calls for a formal declaration of an end to the Korean War.

On Saturday, Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and a key adviser, said Pyongyang was willing to consider an inter-Korean summit on the basis of mutual “respect” and “impartiality”. A day earlier she had said the North was open to resuming talks with South Korea if it dropped its “hostile” stance.

After an emergency meeting following Tuesday’s launch, the South’s National Security Committee issued a statement saying it “expressed regret for the launch at a time when political stability on the Korean Peninsula is very critical”.

Some experts say the North is testing Seoul;s commitment to improving the relationship between the two countries,

“It looks like North Korea wants to see how genuine Seoul is when it comes to its willingness to improve inter-Korean ties – and to officially end the Korean War,” Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told AFP news agency.

“Pyongyang will monitor and study Moon’s reaction after today’s launch and decide on what they want to do,” he added.

US-led talks on denuclearisation have been stalled since the collapse of a 2019 summit between then President Donald Trump and Kim. A key issue is the North’s demand for relief over the sanctions imposed as a result of its nuclear and missile tests.