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| North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches the missile test on Thursday, in this photo provided Friday by the North Korean government. AP-Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
South Korea and the United States will not seek extra sanctions on North Korea despite Pyongyang test-firing two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Thursday, an aide to President Moon said Friday.
"Despite the North's latest provocations, the United States and South Korea will keep their 'strategic ambiguity' on the matter by downplaying the firing's significance, refusing to call the launches a violation of UNSC (United Nations Security Council) resolutions that ban Pyongyang from taking part in ballistic missile activities," the aide told The Korea Times.
The aide said Washington and Seoul understood the firings were aimed at achieving "some strategic and political gains" but they did not violate North Korea's repeated promise to stop testing nuclear weapons or long-range ballistic missiles.
"More broadly, but specifically, the United States and South Korea are hoping to avoid a sudden confrontation with the North because the allies believe keeping the silence will help them narrow the gap between Washington and Pyongyang's positions on denuclearization," the aide said.
Downplaying the significance of Thursday's missile tests would be a "smarter way" for the U.S. and South Korea to keep the talks going. However, for North Korea, it is a chance to further upgrade and improve weapons that already threaten U.S. troops and allies in Northeast Asia.
But North Korea is unlikely to back out of diplomatic efforts for talks with the United States about its dismantling of the regime's nuclear program after a historic direct encounter between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently at the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone.
North Korea said Friday its missile test was a "warning to South Korea" against joining military exercises with the United States.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the launch would not disrupt the resumption of nuclear disarmament talks.
"Look, everybody tries to get ready for negotiations and create leverage, and create risks for the other side," Pompeo was quoted as saying by Bloomberg TV early Friday (KST). "President Trump has been incredibly consistent here. We want diplomacy to work."
South Korea is still hoping for the North's Foreign Minister Ro Yong-ho to attend a regional security forum in Bangkok, Thailand, next week for a possible meeting with Pompeo to break an impasse in the denuclearization talks.
Hours after the remarks, the Combined Forces Command, which is led by a top U.S. general in South Korea, said the two missiles Pyongyang fired "were not a threat."
"We assess this as a test of a new type of missile," the UNC said. "These two short-range ballistic missiles were not a threat directed at (South Korea) or the United States and have no impact on our defense posture."
In February, Trump failed to reach an agreement with Kim in Hanoi due to stark differences over the extent and pace of denuclearization and Washington's refusal to accept the North's repeated demands for sanctions relief.
