Reaching Out to North Korea: U.S. Says Missile Launch 'No Immediate Threat'

[Anchor]

The United States stated yesterday (the 20th) that the ballistic missile launched by North Korea posed no immediate threat. This appears to reflect the intentions of President Trump, who has been continuously reaching out to North Korea.

Reporter Kim Young-a has the details.

[Reporter]

In a statement released on the 20th local time, the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said that North Korea's ballistic missile provocation "does not pose an immediate threat to the United States or its allies."

South Korea's military authorities are weighing the possibility that the ballistic missile fired by North Korea into the East Sea yesterday is a 600mm super-large multiple rocket launcher, which Pyongyang claims can be armed with a nuclear warhead.

The U.S. military's response shows a significant difference in tone compared to the assessment of South Korea's military authorities.

In the past, whenever North Korea conducted missile provocations, the U.S. State Department or Department of Defense consistently issued strong condemnation messages.

Given these precedents, both the agency releasing the statement and the level of the message are markedly toned down.

This is seen as reflecting the intentions of U.S. President Trump, who has been sending conciliatory messages to North Korea day after day, such as scaling back South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises and even mentioning a North Korea-U.S. summit within the year.

Ahead of the November midterm elections, the goal appears to be extracting himself from the quagmire of the conflict with Iran and producing diplomatic achievements through the North Korea issue.

However, concerns are being raised that even if a North Korea-U.S. summit is realized, President Trump, eager for results, might make excessive concessions, thereby threatening security on the Korean Peninsula.

Some observers also suggest that the possibility of Trump withdrawing U.S. forces from the Korean Peninsula without a firm commitment from North Korea on easing tensions cannot be ruled out.

In fact, it is known that during his first term, prior to the first North Korea-U.S. summit, Trump considered the card of withdrawing U.S. troops.

Ahead of the second North Korea-U.S. summit, he attempted to pursue a "small deal" exchanging the dismantlement of the Yongbyon nuclear facility for the lifting of sanctions on North Korea, but abandoned the plan due to opposition from his aides.

Within the United States, there are also forecasts that Trump might aim for an "October surprise" to shake up the political landscape by visiting North Korea just before the November 3 midterm elections.

(Video Editing: Sung Hoon)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.