One U.S. official told CNN that North Korea did not launch short-range projectiles, possibly artillery or cruise missiles, ballistic missiles – an important distinction that underscores Biden’s view that it does not qualify as a serious offense and that the US will not occur. of pursuing diplomacy with Pyongyang.
“We are not considering the activity that took place this weekend,” a senior official said on Tuesday, referring to future attempts at diplomacy.
Biden, asked Tuesday what he learned about the test, told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Ohio: “We learned that nothing has changed.”
While top administration officials underestimated the seriousness of North Korea’s actions, they reiterated that US forces in the region are always ready and on alert.
“It would be difficult to find a place on the planet where there is more vigilance than the conditions and situation around North Korea. Our forces are always ready, always on standby,” said one senior official.
“It is common for North Korea to test different systems … we do not respond publicly to every type of test,” the senior administration official added. “This is a system that is not covered by UN Security Council resolutions. It is a normal part of the kind of test that North Korea would do. We do not believe it is in our best interest to do these things. suppressed in circumstances in which we would view these activities as part of a ‘normal’ set of a tense military environment as we see it on the Korean Peninsula. ‘
The news of the arms test comes because North Korea has been relatively quiet since the weekend and not its military prowess or ability to stand up to the United States, and has left officials wondering about the intent behind the launch.
South Korea and Japan, America’s allies, were equally silent.
The South Korean military on Sunday morning detected the launch of two cruise missiles, the Ministry of Defense later said in a text to reporters.
“Our military has monitored missiles in real time in cooperation with the US and tracked down (the missiles),” the ministry said. It is said to analyze the details of the missiles.
A South Korean lawmaker, Ha Tae-keung, said in a Facebook post that the authorities had decided not to announce the launch as in the past.
Biden’s North Korean Policy Review in ‘Final Stages’
Lawmakers and key U.S. allies are eagerly awaiting details of Biden’s North Korean policy, which they say will be announced publicly in the coming weeks when the government completes a policy review, with several sources familiar with the internal discussions told CNN earlier this month.
Senior administration officials said Tuesday that the policy review is in its “final stages” and that Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will host his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Washington next week to discuss the matter in depth.
North Korea’s decision to conduct a weapons test before the announcement is largely unsurprising, as US officials, lawmakers and experts have been warning for weeks that the Hermit Kingdom is likely to conduct some sort of weapons test in the near future.
“North Korea has traditionally taken a kind of defiant action early in the U.S. and South Korean new governments,” Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told CNN last week, pointing to tests done in 2017 is, shortly after former President Donald Trump took office and in 2009 to mark former President Barack Obama’s arrival in the White House.
“History would therefore indicate that they would do something in the first few months of a Biden government,” he said at the time. “If they do a provocation, it’s completely predictable.”
But North Korean action was less challenging than under previous governments.
Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies specializing in open source intelligence, told CNN on Tuesday that North Korea had apparently tested a cruise missile for defending the coast, which he said was “fairly routine”. is and, all things considered, a very gentle response to the military exercise of the USA and South Korea. ‘
“On a scale of 1 to 10, of which 10 is a test for a new intercontinental ballistic missile and 1 is what kicks Kim in our general direction, it’s a 2,” he added.
CNN reported last week that U.S. intelligence was assessing that North Korea could prepare to conduct its first arms test since Biden was sworn in as president and that U.S. officials were on standby while U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Secretary of State defense, Lloyd Austin, traveled to Asia for meetings with their Japanese and South Korean counterparts.
The reaction will depend on what exactly Pyongyang tested. Senior officials declined to provide details on the specific type of system North Korea tested over the weekend, but reiterated that it was a ‘short-range’ system.
Reach out to Trump officials
While the Biden government has conducted a thorough review of its policy toward North Korea, senior White House and State Department officials, according to current administration officials, have conducted a series of extensive talks with their counterparts from Trump’s team.
The talks were “polite”, “respectful” and “very helpful” in determining the potential for future engagement with North Korea, officials said, suggesting that after Trump’s failed summit with Kim in Hanoi, Vietnam, there was little business. dialogue was or interaction with Pyongyang.
Trump officials attributed the cessation of communication with North Korea to various potential reasons, the Covid-19 pandemic and a re-evaluation in North Korea among them.
Biden’s team believes diplomacy is not off the table.
“We are at the forefront to make it clear that we are prepared to continue in Northeast Asia with key partners and indeed with North Korea,” an official said.
Officials said they learned a lot from their Trump counterparts, both about the talks Trump had with Kim in Singapore and Vietnam, and about other private sessions between U.S. and North Korean delegations.
The next day, Blinken and Austin pledged to “completely deconstruct North Korea” in Japan and to create opportunities for further cooperation between the US, Japan and South Korea, according to a statement from the US State Department. .
Last Tuesday, a senior U.S. general also issued a public warning about the threat posed by North Korea.
“The Kim Jong Un regime has achieved an alarming success in its quest to demonstrate the ability to threaten the American homeland with nuclear-armed ICBMs, and believes that such weapons are necessary to deter US military action and its survival. Of his regime, “said Genl. Glen Van Herck, head of the U.S. Northern Command and in charge of defending the continental United States, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week.
This story was updated on Tuesday with additional developments.
CNN’s Nicole Gaouette, Maegan Vazquez, Jake Kwon and Kylie Atwood reported.