SEOUL (Dispatches) -- North Korea fired a missile towards the sea off its east coast on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, as Pyongyang called on the United States and South Korea to scrap their “double standards” on weapons programs to restart talks.
The missile was launched from the central north province of Jagang at around 6:40 a.m. (2140 GMT), the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Japan’s defense ministry said it appeared to be a ballistic missile, without elaborating.
The latest test underscored the steady development of North Korea’s weapons systems. The launch came just before North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations urged the United States to give up its hostile policy towards Pyongyang and said no one could deny his country’s right to self-defense and to test weapons.
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in ordered aides to conduct a detailed analysis of the North’s recent moves.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the launch highlighted “the destabilizing impact” of the North’s illicit weapons programs, while the U.S. State Department also condemned the test.
At the UN General Assembly, North Korea’s UN envoy, Kim Song, said the country was shoring up its self-defense and if the United States dropped its hostile policy and “double standards,” it would respond “willingly at any time” to offers to talks.
“But it is our judgment that there is no prospect at the present stage for the U.S. to really withdraw its hostile policy,” Kim said.
Referring to a call by Moon last week for a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, Kim said Washington needed to permanently stop joint military exercises with South Korea and remove “all kinds of strategic weapons” on and around the peninsula.
The United States stations various cutting edge military assets including nuclear bombers and fighter jets in South Korea, Guam and Japan under the pretext of keeping North Korea and China in check.
Kim’s speech was in line with Pyongyang’s recent criticism that Seoul and Washington denounce its weapons development while continuing their own military activities.
Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, has said the North is willing to improve inter-Korean ties and consider another summit if Seoul abandons its double standards and hostile policy toward Pyongyang.
“The conditions she suggested were essentially to demand that the North be accepted as a nuclear weapons state,” said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy in Seoul.