Security Council expected to hold talks on N.Korea test

The UN Security Council is expected to hold-closed door talks on North Korea's test of a sea-launched missile, as European powers push for the world body to keep up the pressure on Pyongyang, diplomats said Thursday.

North Korea claimed to have entered a new phase in its defense capability with the test Wednesday of a submarine-launched ballistic missile -- the most provocative since Pyongyang began a dialogue with Washington in 2018.

The demand for closed-door talks was made by Britain, France and Germany, as the United States and North Korea prepare to resume nuclear talks this week. Initially slated for Friday, the talks are now expected to take place early next week due to scheduling constraints, diplomats said.

The European nations consider the test a violation of UN resolutions, and pressed the US delegation to have the council take it up, one diplomat said.

"The Americans do not want a formal meeting" so the Europeans asked for a closed-door session, said another diplomat, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

President Donald Trump, who says he has a great relationship with Kim Jong Un, has shied from criticizing North Korea over its missile tests as the two sides seek an agreement for the North to give up its nuclear weapons.

"We are deeply concerned and we need to bring this back to the Security Council. This is another clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions," the first diplomat said.

"This test is not neutral, and the Security Council should be able to discuss it," the second one said.

In late August, Britain, France and Germany sought a meeting of the Security Council after North Korea tested a new "super large" multiple rocket launcher.

But in the end those three members of the council simply issued a statement calling for continued international sanctions against Pyongyang.

North Korea is under three sets of UN sanctions adopted in 2017 in an effort to force it to give up its nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.

The sanctions limit North Korea's oil imports and impose bans linked to its exports of coal, fish and textiles.

Since the US-North Korea talks began, Russia and China have been calling for the UN to start lifting sanctions so as to create momentum towards the North's denuclearization. But the United States has refused.

North Korean negotiators head to Stockholm: Yonhap
Seoul (AFP) Oct 3, 2019 - A top North Korean negotiator left for Sweden on Thursday ahead of nuclear talks with the United States, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

Kim Myong Gil departed Beijing on a flight to Stockholm with three other North Korean officials after arriving in the Chinese capital from Pyongyang earlier in the day, Yonhap added.

"(We) are heading to working-level negotiations with the US," Kim Myong Gil told reporters in Beijing, according to the agency.

"As the US side sent a new signal, I bear high expectations and optimism, and I am also optimistic about the results."

The talks are planned to begin later this week, but the venue has not yet been confirmed by either side.

In a bid to break the deadlock over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had agreed to restart dialogue during an impromptu meeting in June.

The North Korean team's reported departure came a day after Pyongyang test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile, by far the most provocative such launch since it started a dialogue with Washington in 2018.

North Korea frequently combines diplomatic outreach and military muscle-flexing as a way of maintaining pressure on the other side, analysts say, and may believe such moves give it added leverage.

Despite the gridlock, however, North Korea has continued to praise Trump, describing him as "bold" and "wise".

Relations have also thawed after the president fired his hawkish national security adviser John Bolton last month, a move hailed by Pyongyang.

Trump had blamed Bolton for comments on North Korea that "set us back very badly", and analysts have said that his ouster may have helped bring North Korea back to the table.

A deal with Pyongyang is one of Trump's top foreign policy initiatives, and he has held two summits with Kim in a bid to denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

And despite the collapse of the second summit in Hanoi earlier this year and the subsequent deadlock, Trump has continued to express optimism about a deal, playing up what he describes as a strong personal relationship with Kim.

Related Links
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com
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Why Submarines for North Korea's Missiles
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Oct 02, 2019
The recent test launch of a North Korean Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) could be framed as just another event in a recent surge of new weapons test by the state. North Korea has conducted a flurry of missile launches in recent months, marking the debut of some new weapons that could possibly avoid Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) systems in nearby states. But all of these earlier tests were of land-based systems. This is not the first time that North Korea has tested a SLBM and they have ... read more