Kim Jong-un Declares Suspension of Nuclear and Missile Tests

After months of dialogue denial and continuous Missile tests, North Korea leader Kim has declared an end to the moratoriums on the nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests but has threatened to demonstrate a ‘new strategic weapon’ soon. The decision is taken by Kim, during the recent meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers Party in North Korea.

The world, more particularly, the US was waiting to see the Christmas gift which North Korea a few days back warned to present the US, but the gift turned out to be a major decision. Analysts warn that such escalation by Pyongyang would probably backfire in the days to come.

In this case, though Washington is swift to respond, as the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urging Kim Jong-un to “take a different course, stressing that the US wants peace not confrontation with the North”, while Trump played down the development.

The official KCNA news agency of North Korea has cited Kim Jong-un as telling the top officials of the ruling party, “There is no ground for us to get unilaterally bound to the commitment any longer. The world will witness a new strategic weapon to be possessed by the DPRK in the near future”.

The full meeting of the central committee of the ruling Workers Party of North Korea was also an indication of a major policy shift. In the meeting, Kim Jong-un has acknowledged the impact of international sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its weapons programmes for past few years, but has made it clear, that the North was willing to pay the price in order to preserve its nuclear capability.

KCNA has cited Kim as saying, “The US is raising demands contrary to the fundamental interests of our state and is adopting a brigandish attitude. Washington had conducted tens of big and small joint military drills which its president personally promised to stop and sent high-tech military equipment to the South”.

In the last few months, Pyongyang has fired missiles, which are capable of reaching the entire US mainland and has carried out six nuclear tests, last of this tests was 16 times the size of the Hiroshima blast.

A self-imposed ban on such tests by Kim Jong-n is therefore doubted by many, as over the past two years this has been the centrepiece of the nuclear diplomacy between Pyongyang and Washington, which has witnessed three meetings between Kim and US President Donald Trump, but without any progress.

Negotiations between the two countries have been largely deadlocked since the failure of their summit in Hanoi this February and North Korea has then set the US an end-of-year deadline for it to offer fresh concessions on sanctions relief or it else it would bound to adopt a ‘new way’ in this issue.

For the past few months, North Korea has been demanding the easing of the international sanctions imposed over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, while Washington is insisting on taking more tangible steps towards giving them up.