South Korea is the third and final stop of Donald Trump's Asian tour. To set the tone for the trip, before the U.S. president flew from Japan to the neighboring Asian country, the North Korean regime fired sea-to-land cruise missiles towards its western waters.
The North Korean state agency KCNA was the first to report on this new test. "The cruise missiles, improved for ship launches, were fired vertically and flew for more than 7,800 seconds along a predetermined route over the Yellow Sea to destroy the target," the agency stated without revealing other details, such as the flight distance.
The missile launch comes after Trump expressed several times in recent days his desire to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his visit to Korea.
Today, the American president will be in the city of Gyeongju, in the southeastern end of South Korea, to join other heads of state, including his South Korean counterpart, and business leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum. However, all eyes are mainly on the first and highly anticipated face-to-face meeting that Trump will have on Thursday with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"I would love to see him, if he wants, if he gets this message," said the Republican on Monday when asked about a possible meeting with Kim. U.S. and South Korean officials have stated that there are no concrete preparations underway for a possible meeting. If it happens, it would be the fourth summit between the two leaders, who already met on three occasions between 2018 and 2019 during Trump's first term.
Negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang stalled because the North Koreans demanded the lifting of international sanctions before progressing in the denuclearization process. During Trump's first presidency, North Korea conducted numerous ballistic missile tests, both short and long-range. It is estimated that during those years, the North Koreans were able to carry out around 40 launches.
In early October, Pyongyang, which has continued in recent months to strengthen its alliance with Vladimir Putin's Russia, flexed its nuclear muscles by showcasing for the first time a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, the Hwasong-20, capable of reaching the entire continental U.S. territory.