On the 7th, when Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited South Korea for a Korea-Japan summit, North Korea did not show any reaction. Kim Jong-un, the general secretary of the North Korean Workers’ Party, has also not taken a public step for nearly 20 days.
Official media such as the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Labor Party, and North Korean propaganda media have not reported any related issues until the afternoon of the same day when Prime Minister Kishida started his official schedule after visiting South Korea.
It is a very different atmosphere from President Yoon Seok-yeol’s sensitive reaction when he launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) ‘Hwasong-17’ just before leaving for Tokyo, Japan for a summit meeting with Prime Minister Kishida on March 16.
At the Korea-Japan summit that day, it seems that the main discussions were on joint countermeasures between the two countries in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
In particular, since the meeting was held immediately after the announcement of the “Washington Declaration” that strengthened the US’ extended deterrence at the Korea-US summit on the 26th of last month (local time), it is expected that trilateral security cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan would have been dealt with with great importance. comes out Accordingly, North Korea is also expected to closely monitor the outcome of the meeting.
When the ‘Washington Declaration’ was announced earlier, North Korea expressed its strong dissatisfaction by threatening nuclear weapons again through a ‘statement’ in the name of Kim Yo-jong, secretary general of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) ‘Hwasong-18’. (Pyongyang Rodong Sinmun = News 1)However, even after Vice Minister Kim’s statement, North Korea does not carry out high-intensity armed provocations, but rather focuses on propaganda and public opinion warfare for internal solidarity by holding ‘revenge resolution meetings’ to incite hostility toward South Korea and the United States among residents.
In connection with the recent Korea-US summit, North Korea announced that it even proceeded with a ‘scarecrow burning ceremony’ targeting the leaders, but did not disclose any related photos or videos.
North Korea stopped provocations after test-launching a new ICBM ‘Hwasong-18’ with a solid fuel propulsion system on the 13th of last month, and Secretary General Kim also made it public after the report (April 19th) that he had on-site guidance for the National Space Development Agency on the 18th of last month. It is not visible on the stone statue.
The reason for Kim’s stealth is still unclear, but observations are raised that North Korea will focus on ‘internal politics’ through public opinion wars for the time being, rather than raising the level of resistance by launching high-intensity provocations right after the Korea-Japan summit.
In the midst of this, North Korean media outlets are sending out special articles one after another emphasizing the importance of grain production as major farming processes, such as rice planting, begin this month. Grain production is the task that North Korea presented as its first economic goal this year to overcome economic difficulties.
However, as North Korea declared the completion of ‘Military Reconnaissance Satellite Unit 1’ last month and announced that it would “launch within the planned time”, related preparations are expected to continue.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.