- North Korea launched new missiles on Wednesday morning, illustrating the little progress Donald Trump made with Kim Jong Un during bilateral talks.
- Trump jousted with Kim in both Vietnam and Singapore over denuclearization, but this new submarine-launch indicates Trump's words had little-to-no effect.
- Talks between low-level US and North Korean officials over denuclearization are scheduled to happen this coming weekend.
- Trump's former national security advisor John Bolton said this week: "Under current circumstances, he [Kim] will never give up the nuclear weapons voluntarily."
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One day after agreeing to meet with US officials to discuss its nuclear weapons program, North Korea conducted missile tests that drew stark condemnation from neighboring officials in South Korea and Japan.
The launches underline the lack of progress the US has made on its central aim to deprive Kim Jong Un's regime of a nuclear arsenal.
New tests became apparent on Wednesday when the South Korean military announced that its radar showed missiles being fired at about 7 a.m. local time, from an area along the North Korea coast associated with past missile tests.
South Korea's Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) said the missile appeared to be a type of missile which could be fired from a submarine.
Officials said that one of the missiles flew at least 570 miles before landing in the Sea of Japan. This drew a sharp rebuke from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who said such a test violated current UN agreements.
North Korea has repeatedly tested nuclear warheads in the past before agreeing to a halt. However, it has not stopped building delivery systems for the warheads, including tests for missiles that theoretically can reach the the US mainland.
The JSC, without detailing how it made the determination, said the missile was presumed to be intended for use in North Korea's still-developing submarine launched missile program.
If Wednesday test is confirmed as designed for submarine launch, it would represent the first test of such devices since August 2018.
Since then, North Korea has tested numerous short-range weapons, drawing protests from South Korea and Japan, but little criticism from the United States.
Negotiations between the US and North Korea over the future of these programs have taken place twice, in the form of direct talks between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
This test came 24 hours after both sides agreed for low level officials to meet this weekend for denuclearization talks.
The brazen test of a banned missile system in this context was certain to inflame tensions, and came just days after Trump's recently-departed national security advisor warned that North Korea was taking advantage of Trump's desire for a foreign policy victory.
John Bolton, who lost his job in September, told a think tank: "The strategic decision Kim Jong-un is operating through is that he will do whatever he can to keep a deliverable nuclear weapons capability and to develop and enhance it further."
Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, he said: "Under current circumstances, he will never give up the nuclear weapons voluntarily."
They were his first public comments since being replaced, following disagreements with Trump over issues including North Korea and Iran.
Trump has held up his two public meetings with Kim Jong Un — the first of any kind between leaders of the two nations — as a sign of his personal deal-making prowess.
But despite the easing of personal tensions, he has no tangible concessions from the North Koreans to show for it.
When Bolton was asked by reporters at the speech whether he thought Trump's appeal to personal diplomacy could work, Bolton did not comment.
In a sign that North Korean officials might see the current situation more like Bolton than Trump, its top official at the United Nations said Monday that the US was responsible for the current failure of negotiations.
UN Ambassador Kim Song suggested that his government was losing faith in the personal style diplomacy.
Talks "have made little progress so far and the situation on the Korean Peninsula has not come out of the vicious cycle of increased tension," he said.
Kim said the situation is "entirely attributable to the political and military provocations perpetrated by the US."
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