Analysts See No Quick End to North Korea’s Missile Test Launches
Rhona Arcaya | | Jul 14, 2014 10:46 PM EDT |
North Korea looks bent on conducting more weapons tests despite international criticism, analysts say.
ABC News published interviews with defense experts as military officials in Seoul confirmed Pyongyang carried out new tests on Monday, firing 100 shells from shoreline artillery guns and land-based rocket launchers. The projectiles fell on waters near the border with South Korea, the officials said.
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The launches came just a day after Pyongyang fired two ballistic missiles from the country's southwest on Sunday. Analysts expect the test-firings to continue. They say North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is using the launches to win international concessions, which is a marked departure from the approach of his father, the late dictator Kim Jong-il.
Compared with the younger Kim, the North Korean leader who died in 2011 sparingly used nuclear and long-range missile tests as bargaining chips to force his country's rivals to bow to Pyongyang's demands, according to the ABC News report.
An expert on North Korea said Kim Jong-un is seeking to boost the strength of his country's armed forces. This is in response to military drills that South Korea regularly conducts with the U.S. Pyongyang wants Seoul and Washington to reduce the scale of the joint exercises, which it sees as a dry run for a future military strike.
While continuing to flex its muscles, North Korea has also put forward proposals for reducing tension on the Korean peninsula and is urging South Korea to accept them. Analysts say Pyongyang's offer is aimed at attracting foreign investment and aid to help North Korea's ailing economy.
The South Korean Defense Ministry questioned Pyongyang's sincerity in improving ties between the two Koreas, which have been technically at war since agreeing to a truce to end their 1950-1953 conflict.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement that South Korea will not hesitate to fire back if Northern projectiles land in South Korean waters.
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