THE BIDEN administration reiterated that it’s ready to hold talks with North Korea without preconditions, a day after Kim Jong Un’s regime fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile for the first time since 2017. READ:
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency on Monday “confirmed the accuracy, security and effectiveness of the operation of the Hwasong 12-type weapon system under production.” It said the launch was conducted at the highest angle “in consideration of the security of neighboring countries.”
Sunday’s test provided a reminder to the White House that Kim’s nuclear arsenal remains among the US’s biggest foreign policy challenges despite former President Donald Trump’s unprecedented face-to-face meetings with the North Korean leader. It also marks the end of a moratorium on tests of long-range missiles Mr. Kim announced in the run-up to the first Trump summit, signaling that Mr. Kim may soon test another intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the entire US homeland.
Even so, the time isn’t right for a meeting between Mr. Kim and President Joseph R. Biden, who has said that it would have to have a clear purpose — a condition that’s nowhere close to being met, the official said.