Todd Bishop
US President Trump said on August 9 that he received a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the 8th and said that the two may meet again. Only a few hours later, North Korea fired two UFOs on the eastern shore of the Korean peninsula on the morning of the 10th. The South Korean Joint Staff Headquarters issued a statement on the 10th that North Korea’s move is to show its military strength. During the US-South Korea military exercise, North Korea is likely to test more flying objects. South Korea’s Qingwatai said that Pyongyang’s move was to verify the reliability of the new weapons and to demonstrate its dissatisfaction with the US-DPRK joint military exercise.
At 5:32 am and 5:50 am on August 10, North Korea fired two UFOs in the eastern part of the Korean peninsula in the Hamhung area of South Hamgyong Province, with a maximum speed of Mach 6.1. Reuters quoted US officials as saying that North Korea’s launch of at least one issue appeared to be a short-range missile that Pyongyang had previously fired.
The South Korean military said that the two missiles fly about 400 kilometers and have a height of 48 kilometers. The military is closely watching the DPRK’s movements and maintaining a high level of alertness.
This is the fifth test flight in North Korea in three weeks, the seventh time this year. After successfully testing the new “Mars 15” intercontinental ballistic missile on November 29, 2017, North Korea stated that it “achieved a great historical undertaking to complete the national nuclear power.” After more than five months in the following year, North Korea did not disclose military operations such as weapons training. However, on May 4 and 9 of 2019, North Korea tested the KN-23 missile of the Korean version of Iskander, on July 25th and 31st, August 2nd and 6th. Two short-range flying objects were tested in different regions.
Kim Jong-un sent a letter to Trump: dissatisfied with the US-South Korea military exercise
North Korea tested this time, after the new US Defense Secretary Mark Esper visited South Korea on the 9th, and US President Donald Trump said on the 9th that he received a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the 8th. Trump described it as a “very beautiful letter” and said that he might meet Kim Jong-un again. He also revealed that Kim Jong-un wrote in his letter that he was dissatisfied with the joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea. A few hours after the news about the letter, North Korea fired a flying object.
Trump reiterated that he was not bothered by this. When he talked about North Korea on the 9th, he intentionally played down the importance of Pyongyang’s recent test flight incident: “I will say once again: (North Korea) has no nuclear test. Those test launches are short-range missiles. There is no ballistic missile test. There are no long-range missiles.”
He also showed his maintenance of North Korea when he spoke. He posted on Twitter on August 2 that Kim Jong-un did not violate the promise made to the US, and that Kim Jong-un had a vision and described himself as Kim Jong-un’s “his friend”.
Trump and Kim Jong-un met at the Panmunjom on June 30th. The two agreed to resume the working level meeting on the nuclear talks. However, there has been no news of the US-DPRK meeting since then.
