© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Defense Intelligence Agency Director Scott Berrier testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on “global threats,” on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 8, 2023. REUTERS/Mary F Calvert
By Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears unprepared to conduct a nuclear test during U.S. and South Korean military exercises, but the United States remains vigilant, the U.S. Agency’s director said on Wednesday. Defense Intelligence.
US officials have warned for nearly a year that North Korea could resume nuclear tests for the first time since 2017, a move the United States, South Korea and Japan would see as a serious provocation.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and other officials warned of that possibility in May 2022 ahead of President Joe Biden’s trip to Asia.
“I’ve been waiting for that, too,” Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier told reporters at DIA headquarters. “There are a lot of different factors that play into calculating (Kim’s) decision on that. And there are a lot of things that we look at in terms of cues and warnings. Those two haven’t lined up.”
Berrier said Kim may have chosen to schedule a nuclear test to coincide with the ongoing Freedom Shield drills by the US and South Korean militaries. The 11-day exercise is scheduled to conclude on Thursday.
“It doesn’t look like he’s going to do that,” Berrier said. “But he will uncork it at a time and place of his choosing, which is something we’ll be watching very, very carefully.”
‘MUCH MORE DANGEROUS’
The Security Council has long banned North Korea from nuclear tests and ballistic missile launches, which has tightened sanctions against Pyongyang over the years to cut off funding for those programs.
In recent years, the 15-member body has been divided over how to deal with North Korea. Although both Russia and China backed tougher sanctions after North Korea’s latest nuclear test, in May 2022 they vetoed a US-led push to impose more UN sanctions on North Korea’s renewed ballistic missile launches.
North Korea carried out an unprecedented number of such launches last year, including intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to reach the continental United States.
That test continues. North Korea fired several cruise missiles off its east coast on Wednesday, three days after launching a short-range ballistic missile into the sea.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said the launches on Wednesday may have involved strategic cruise missiles.
“Strategic” is typically used to describe weapons that are nuclear capable. North Korea’s last known launch of strategic cruise missiles was on March 12, when it said it fired two from a submarine. When asked about the North Korean testing spree, Berrier said he believed Kim was still not satisfied with deterring him, despite advances in his military programs in recent years.
“It continues to look for greater accuracy and lethality with its missile force,” Berrier said.
He noted that North Korea’s conventional ground forces “have atrophied over time” as Kim has advanced his nuclear weapons and missile programs.
“But I think it’s a much more dangerous North Korea than it has been in the past,” Berrier said.