North Korea, on Busiest Missile-Testing Spree in Years, Rebuffs Trump Diplomacy
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
SEOUL— North Korea accelerated a spree of missile tests on Wednesday, signaling it would stick to its guns as the Kim Jong Un regime defiantly spurned U.S. diplomatic overtures with a growing list of demands.
The test of several missiles on Wednesday morning, reported by South Korea’s defense ministry, followed tests of cluster munitions and submarine-launched cruise missiles in recent weeks. The past two months have seen the most concentrated burst of North Korean testing since 2023, with a total of nine known launches.
That means Washington would face a more capable arsenal and stiffer terms if the administration succeeds in engaging Pyongyang in negotiations about its weapons program.
Pyongyang hasn’t taken part in formal talks with Washington since 2019.
After the Federal Bureau of Investigation said North Korea was behind the $6.3 billion Binance hack last week, President Trump said he would talk to the Kim regime.
“We don’t know if it’s North Korea, but if it is, we’ll talk to North Korea about it,” Trump said on Saturday.
Kim’s sister, regime spokeswoman Kim Yo Jong, reiterated her denial of North Korea’s involvement in the hack on Wednesday while pointing the finger at Washington.
“We have no need to sit face to face with such unreliable and hostile persons who refuse to abandon their policy of confrontation while talking about dialogue,” she said in a statement.
She referred to Washington’s joint drills with allies and its naming of North Korea as the world’s worst human-trafficking nation as evidence of American hostility.
Trump has repeatedly said he wants to meet Kim without preconditions. But conditions are piling up on North Korea’s side. Kim Jong Un’s sister has demanded the U.S. halt joint exercises with Japan and South Korea, drop cyber allegations and acknowledge North Korea as a nuclear power.
The Kim regime’s weapons capabilities have expanded significantly since Trump and Kim met three times in 2018 and 2019 to negotiate North Korea’s denuclearization. Washington now faces new capabilities from solid-fuel ballistic missiles to hypersonic systems.
Engaging Kim without preconditions could risk granting de facto recognition to North Korea as a nuclear weapons state, while allowing Pyongyang to demand even steeper U.S. concessions, analysts say.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that Trump was open to talks with North Korea, though a meeting hadn’t been scheduled.
“The president doesn’t view talks, doesn’t view meeting with someone as a concession,” Rubio said.
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Yikes ... the Kims have also abandonned their fairweather pal, Trump?