North Korean missile launches were a ‘serious escalation,’ official says
“These launches are a brazen violation of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions, needlessly raise tensions and risk destabilizing the security situation in the region,” said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity on Thursday.
While the administration viewed the launches as an escalation, the new system so far has not shown the same capability nor range as the three intercontinental ballistic missile tests by North Korea in 2017. Experts estimated that the missile tested on March 4 had a range of about 1,000 kilometers, far short of ICBM range. North Korea is known to be working to master a number of technologies needed to deliver a nuclear weapon over long distances, including a maneuverable reentry vehicle that can safely transport several warheads through the upper atmosphere.
The official said the U.S. cannot say at this point how far the missiles could travel under the developing system, which was initially unveiled during the Korean Worker’s Party parade in October 2020, and then again at a defense exhibition in Pyongyang a year later.
Biden administration officials are still prepared to meet with the North Korean government without preconditions, and President Biden is also open to meeting directly with its leader, Kim Jong-Un, once “there is a serious agreement on the table,” the official said.
North Korea has yet to respond to any such diplomatic messages.
“As we saw in the past administration, mere level summits alone are no guarantee of progress,” said the official, referring to the splashy meetings between Kim and former president Donald Trump that did little to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. “The DPRK continues to not respond.”
As part of the Biden administration’s response to the tests, the Treasury Department on Friday will announce a new effort that is meant to prevent North Korea from accessing “foreign items and technology that enable it to advance its prohibited weapons programs,” according to the official, who declined to elaborate further.
