The regime in North Korea seems to care little about international sanctions. South Korea reports another missile test in the isolated country. Several missiles land in the Sea of Japan.
Despite international sanctions, North Korea has fired eight more short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast. This was announced by the South Korean General Staff. The rockets were fired from the Sunan region near the capital Pyongyang. Referring to the Japanese government, Japanese media reported that North Korea appears to have launched several missiles.
North Korea had previously conducted 23 missile tests this year. Most recently, on May 25, the internationally isolated communist country launched three missiles, including what is believed to be its largest ICBM. The US government then imposed new sanctions on North Korea. In the UN Security Council, however, the USA's push for tougher international sanctions against Pyongyang failed due to the veto of China and Russia.
The United States has been warning for weeks that North Korea could soon conduct a nuclear weapons test for the first time since 2017. The last time the UN Security Council was able to agree on sanctions against Pyongyang was as a result of the nuclear weapons test at the time. According to diplomats, North Korea has nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles, but has not yet managed to combine these two technologies.
The day before, South Korea and the United States had completed their first joint military exercises in more than four years in waters off the Japanese island of Okinawa. US Special Envoy Sung Kim left Seoul on Saturday after talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts Kim Gunn and Takehiro Funakoshi. The talks were about preparation "for all eventualities". During his visit to Seoul, Kim said the US government had made it very clear to Pyongyang that it was ready for diplomatic talks. One can talk about all topics that are of interest to Pyongyang, including the easing of sanctions.
