North Korea’s unrelenting missile launches are intended to strategically signal to Washington that the North will continue to develop weapons and weaken U.S. demand for denuclearization, said experts.”The strategy I discern is to divide the American side and weaken the [U.S.] resolve to force the North to denuclearize,” said Douglas Paal, vice president at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.North Korea conducted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches the test-fire of two short-range ballistic missiles Thursday, in this undated picture released by North Korea’s Central News Agency, July 26, 2019.Kim, who supervised the missile launch, said there is a “need to push ahead with an indomitable offensive campaign,” according to the country’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Saturday.Kim added that North Korea will “step up the development of Korean-style People watch a TV showing a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, July 25, 2019. North Korea fired two unidentified missiles Thursday, South Korea’s military said.Since coming to power in 2011, Kim has tested more than 90 missiles and four nuclear weapons, exceeding the FILE – U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as they meet at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, June 30, 2019.In response to North Korea’s latest missile launch on Saturday, Trump said, “I’m not happy about it” during a sideline meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Group of 7 in France on Sunday.But Trump continued that Kim is “U.S President Donald Trump, right, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attend a bilateral meeting at the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, Aug. 25, 2019.North Korea, however, still wants sanctions relief, according to Paal, who added, “So it may be willing to take some, partial steps” toward denuclearization.In an article carried by KCNA on Saturday, North Korea said it does not want to give up the country’s missile and nuclear weapons programs, which it sees as essential for its government’s survival, for any sanctions relief. “The U.S. should clearly understand that we do not have a lingering attachment on sanctions relief,” said KCNA. “We will never barter the strategic security of the country for the sanctions relief.”Manning said, “The North Korean statement is an effort to increase their bargaining power and a rejection of the U.S. all-or-nothing’ position,” referred to as Washington’s big deal approach that asks North Korea to give up all of its nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting sanctions.Manning continued, “They will not give up their weapons of mass destruction for the lifting of sanctions. They want to bid up the price.”Samore, however, said, “I don’t think the recent tests will increase North Korea’s leverage in upcoming U.S.-South Korean nuclear talks.”The talks between Washington and Pyongyang has been stalled since the failed Hanoi Summit, but when Trump and Kim held an New U.S. special representative to North Korea Steve Biegun speaks after being named by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the State Department in Washington, Aug. 23, 2018.However, even when U.S. Special Representative Steve Biegun was in Seoul last week, North Korea did not show any interest in having talks with him, instead testing missiles on Saturday. Manning said, “The fact that Pyongyang won’t even come to the table despite sincere efforts by U.S. North Korea Envoy Steven Biegun raises questions about how serious they are in the first place.”Trump, while attending the recently concluded G-7 summit on Monday, said North Korea has “tremendous potential” under Kim and that it doesn’t want to blow it. “Because if they blow it, it won’t be good,” said Trump.
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