(Adnkronos) – North Korea has intensified its missile tests, adhering to the line adopted with cluster munitions and cruise missile tests in recent weeks and with the defiant rejection of US diplomatic overtures, associated with a growing list of demands. The Wall Street Journal reports this today. The launch of several missiles, which took place this morning and was reported by the South Korean Ministry of Defense, is part of what is considered the most intense wave of North Korean tests since 2023, with a total of nine confirmed launches in the last two months.
This means that, should the US administration succeed in engaging Pyongyang in negotiations on its weapons program, it would face a more advanced arsenal and significantly more difficult conditions. Pyongyang has not participated in formal talks with Washington since 2019. Following the FBI’s statement that North Korea was responsible for the $6.3 billion cyberattack on Binance, President Trump stated that he wanted to engage in dialogue with the Kim regime. “We don’t know if it was North Korea, but if it was, we’ll talk to them,” Trump said on Saturday.
Kim’s sister and regime spokesperson, Kim Yo Jong, today reiterated the denial of any Pyongyang involvement in the attack, instead pointing the finger at Washington. “We have no interest in sitting face-to-face with such unreliable and hostile interlocutors, who refuse to abandon their policy of confrontation while talking about dialogue,” she said in a statement.
As proof of American hostility, she cited Washington’s joint exercises with its allies and the US classification of North Korea as the worst country in the world for human trafficking. Trump has repeatedly expressed a desire to meet Kim without preconditions. However, from the North Korean side, demands are accumulating: Kim Jong Un’s sister has demanded that the United States stop joint exercises with Japan and South Korea, withdraw accusations related to cyberattacks, and recognize North Korea as a nuclear power.
The Kim regime’s military capabilities have expanded significantly since Trump and Kim met three times in 2018 and 2019 to negotiate the denuclearization of North Korea. Today, Washington must confront new technologies, ranging from solid-fuel ballistic missiles to hypersonic systems. According to analysts, initiating a dialogue with Kim without preconditions would risk granting North Korea de facto recognition as a nuclear-armed state, while also offering Pyongyang the opportunity to demand even more significant concessions from the American side.
On Saturday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that Trump is open to talks with North Korea, clarifying however that no meeting has been scheduled. “The president does not consider talks or meeting with someone as a concession,” Rubio stated.
