Pyongyang is ignoring US attempts at dialogue and could conduct its first test of a nuclear weapon in nearly five years in mid-April, a senior official in charge of North Korea at the US State Department warned on Wednesday (April 6th). .
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Envoy Sung Kim explained that Washington expected Pyongyang to plan a big display of its growing nuclear capabilities for the April 15 celebrations of the 110th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung, founder of Korea's ruling dynasty. North.
"
We fear that in connection with the upcoming April 15th anniversary, North Korea will be tempted to perform a new provocative action
," Sung Kim told reporters, recalling the latest ballistic missile launch tests carried out by Pyongyang.
North Korea has carried out several nuclear weapons tests since 2006, the last one being in 2017. And according to the American envoy, Pyongyang continues to ignore attempts by Washington to renew a dialogue concerning the denuclearization of the peninsula Korean.
“
We have not received any response from Pyongyang, which is very disappointing because we have sent several messages, both in public and in private, inviting them to a dialogue without preconditions
”, he specified, affirming that the latest ballistic missile tests posed "
a serious threat to regional stability
".
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A series of 13 missile tests
Sung Kim further stressed that neither China nor Russia were helping US President Joe Biden in his attempts to resume talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang had appeared to advance under Donald Trump but then languished.
After Joe Biden came to power, North Korea began a series of 13 missile tests that culminated last month with the launch of a ballistic missile potentially capable of reaching the US east coast while carrying a head. nuclear.
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of Kim Jong Un, said Tuesday that North Korea would use nuclear weapons to "
eliminate
" the South Korean army if it launched a preemptive attack.
According to Sung Kim, Washington is trying to pass a new resolution in the UN Security Council condemning Pyongyang's actions, but Moscow and Beijing have already opposed it six times this year.
