South Korea Braces for Further North Korean Missile Tests

South Korea’s foreign intelligence agency has confirmed the country is expecting additional North Korean missile tests soon.

According to Seoul’s National Intelligence Service, the North is pursuing their nuclear ambitions in defiance of United Nations sanctions and recently carried out another missile engine test.

“The agency is closely following the developments because there is a possibility that North Korea could fire an array of ballistic missiles this year under the name of a satellite launch and peaceful development of space, but in fact to ratchet up its threats against the United States,” South Korean lawmaker Yi Wan-young told reporters after a closed-door briefing by the spy agency.

The comments come a week after the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies revealed that the North was working to an “aggressive schedule” to develop a ballistic missile submarine capable of reaching the United States.

Another lawmaker, Kim Byung-kee, also said that Choe Ryong Hae, the head of the country’s Organisation and Guidance Department which oversees all political and military appointments, had initiated an ideological examination of all members of the military as their war ambitions continue to develop.

“Under Choe’s command, the Organisation and Guidance Department are undertaking an inspection of the military politburo for the first time in 20 years, taking issue with their impure attitude toward the party leadership,” the lawmaker said.

The country’s last weapons test took place in September. The regime successfully conducted their sixth test of an alleged hydrogen bomb and launched a missile over Japan, as diplomats in Japan and South Korea warned that their nuclear weapons capacity is now reaching “unprecedented, critical, and imminent” levels.

A recent Pentagon analysis determined a ground war would be the “only way” to fully disarm North Korea of its nuclear arsenal, due to the location of its “deeply buried, underground facilities.”

The aggressive expansion of the country’s nuclear capabilities follows President Donald Trump’s tour of the region, where he urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to do more to de-escalate tensions with the North.

Following the visit, Chinese announced they had sent a special envoy to North Korea to “exchange views on the Korean peninsula issue,” although officials have since claimed the visit was solely routine.

On Monday, Trump announced that the U.S. would North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism and impose “very large” new sanction on the country.

“This designation will oppose further sanctions and penalties on North Korea and related persons, and supports our maximum pressure campaign to isolate the murderous regime that you’ve all been reading about, and in some cases, writing about,” Trump said. “Tomorrow, the Treasury Department will be announcing an additional sanction, and a very large one, on North Korea.”

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