North Korea’s latest missile test punctuates Blinken’s farewell visit to Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea — As the sun sets on the Biden administration and South Korean policymaking is frozen by a presidential impeachment drama, North Korea has continued to act true to itself Monday.

The authoritarian state tested a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile just as Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his South Korean counterpart, Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, in Seoul.

Mr Blinken is making what is almost certainly his final trip to the region as America’s top diplomat, with a stop also planned in Tokyo. The new administration of Donald Trump – which promises major changes in tone and policy for US allies in the Indo-Pacific region – will be inaugurated on January 20.

Mr. Blinken’s lame duck status is reflected in the confusion and uncertainty facing his South Korean hosts. Mr Cho presents a government whose leader, President Yoon Suk Yeol, was impeached and effectively stripped of his powers following a failed attempt to declare martial law on December 3.

With Seoul’s Constitutional Court yet to meet to decide Mr. Yoon’s fate, South Korean politics faces what appears to be months of unpredictability as a new U.S. administration takes office .

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s regime, which has made derisive comments in state media about political unrest in South Korea’s “puppet state,” tested what experts say is a new hypersonic missile while that Mr. Blinken and Mr. Cho met.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said they detected the launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile, likely equipped with a hypersonic warhead, from the Pyongyang area around midday on Monday.

The weapon splashed into the Sea of ​​Japan. Hypersonic weapons, developed by Russia, are difficult to counter by conventional missile defense systems such as those deployed in South Korea due to their high speeds and variable flight paths.

This is North Korea’s first missile test since November 5, the day of the US presidential election. The regime had previously tested solid-fuel hypersonic IRBMs in January and April 2024. These weapons are believed to have the range to strike Guam, a strategic US territory in the Pacific.

There is no indication from North Korea that the latest missile test was timed to coincide with Mr. Blinken’s visit. But analysts say Pyongyang is testing missiles not only to check the development status of its own weapons technologies, but also to send messages to the outside world.

Against the backdrop of the launch, Blinken focused in his public remarks on the dangers of expanding military cooperative relations between North Korea and Russia, highlighted by the recent deployment of thousands of North troops. -Koreans to help the Russian military invasion of neighboring countries. Ukraine. Blinken said ties between the two US adversaries are only deepening.

“We have reason to believe that Moscow intends to share advanced space and satellite technologies with Pyongyang,” he said at a joint news conference. “(Russian President Vladimir) Putin may be about to reverse a decades-old policy by accepting (North Korea’s) nuclear weapons program.”

The details of the quid pro quo between Moscow and Pyongyang are not known, although it is widely suspected that Mr Putin is offering the North Korean regime sophisticated military technology, diplomatic support, food and oil, in exchange for ammunition and combat troops.

Mr. Putin and Mr. Kim signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” in June. A clause in their agreement provides for the defense of one party by the other if its territory is invaded by a foreign force.

As the battle rages in Ukraine, South Korea’s lack of response to Pyongyang’s military adventure has become a source of frustration for its allies.

Ukraine is in dire need of new sources of weapons and munitions as Russian forces advance in the south and east. Prosperous South Korea is one of the world’s largest arms manufacturers and a high-tech power.

But although it has supplied artillery munitions to the United States and sold sophisticated weapons such as armored vehicles and artillery systems to NATO countries including Poland, Norway and Turkey, she did not send a single ball to kyiv.

A Western diplomat told the Washington Times that he and his colleagues are “fanning the flames” in talks with their South Korean partners to do more. Another said there had been “vigorous” discussions on the issue.

This would require a change in South Korean law to arm a nation actively engaged in war. But diplomats say Seoul could still do much to help Ukraine.

No such frustration was aired on media cameras in Seoul on Monday. Mr. Cho insisted that whatever political developments in Seoul and Washington, the bilateral alliance would remain unshakable.

“We will continue to move forward by closely coordinating all political solidarity actions, even after the Trump administration takes office,” he said.

Mr. Blinken said the United States had “complete confidence” in South Korean interim President Choi Sang-mook.

The position of the new Trump administration towards Seoul, however, is far from clear.

During his first term as US president, Mr Trump alarmed some in Seoul with his demands for increased payments for US troops stationed on the tense and divided peninsula, and troubled Seoul with his personal diplomatic dealings and his seemingly friendly attitude toward North Korea’s Mr. Kim. .