DPRK missile tests send warning to US

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has fired two short-range missiles off its west coast, prompting experts to interpret Pyongyang's first missile test in about a year as a mild warning to Washington that falls short of a provocation.

The latest test on Sunday involved weapons systems at the low end of the spectrum that were not covered by United Nations Security Council testing bans, US senior officials told reporters on Tuesday.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Republic of Korea said on Wednesday that two non-ballistic cruise missiles were fired off the DPRK's western coastal town of Onchon on Sunday morning.

But the JCS did not disclose other details, saying that the ROK and the US authorities have been analyzing details and closely monitoring related moves, according to the Yonhap news agency.

The DPRK has remained silent on the latest test.

The launch, originally reported by US media, marks the DPRK's first known such test since US President Joe Biden took office in January. It's also Pyongyang's first test since April 2020, when it launched multiple short-range cruise missiles into waters off its east coast, between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

The United States has downplayed the firings, with Biden saying "nothing much has changed".

"No, according to the Defense Department it's business as usual. There's no new wrinkle in what they did," Biden told reporters upon his return from a visit to Ohio, when asked if the test was a provocation.

The Pentagon declined to comment on the tests, which were first reported by The Washington Post. The DPRK's mission to the United Nations also did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters reported.

Joint drills

The launch followed joint exercises by the US and the ROK armed forces earlier this month and came just days after US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Seoul and agreed with their ROK counterparts to work together closely to resolve Pyongyang's nuclear and missile issues as their top priority.

The drills angered Pyongyang, with a top DPRK diplomat last week saying her country would never answer US diplomatic overtures until Washington dropped its hostile policies, while calling for relief from US sanctions.

Lyu Chao, a research fellow at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, told China Daily that the launch came as no surprise, suggesting it was a pretty mild response to the US-ROK military drills that ended last Thursday.

"The weapons test continuously showed the DPRK's dissatisfaction with the US and its ally (the ROK). But Pyongyang seems to have continuously opted for taking low-intensity steps to send warnings to the US and the ROK while remaining open to chances for dialogue if Washington makes well-intentioned and pragmatic moves first," said Lyu, adding that it's in accordance with Pyongyang's US policy drawn up during the 8th Congress of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

The Biden administration was close to concluding a policy review of the DPRK, and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will discuss it next week with his counterparts in Japan and the ROK.

Senior US officials said there had been "very little dialogue or interaction" with the DPRK since a failed summit between then US president Donald Trump and DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi in February 2019. At the meeting, the US sought to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons and Pyongyang demanded sanctions relief.

Agencies contributed to this story.