North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Joe Biden / Korea Times file

Pyongyang's missile test aims to gain edge over US in nuke talks

By Kang Seung-woo

North Korea's launch of short-range missiles over the weekend is set to pressure the new U.S. administration to come up with a policy review favorable to the totalitarian state, according to diplomatic observers.

However, they added that Pyongyang staged a toned-down provocation without defying international sanctions or shutting the door to diplomacy with the U.S., although it also means the country can go further should the U.S. mount its pressure on the regime.

According to the South Korean and U.S. military authorities, Wednesday, the Kim Jong-un regime fired two cruise missiles off the west coast, Sunday, the first such launches since the inauguration of the Joe Biden administration in January.

"We detected two projectiles presumed to be cruise missiles fired from the North's western port county of Onchon early Sunday," a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official told reporters without elaborating on other details, including their exact type, flight range or apogee.

The U.S. also acknowledged that the North Korean military activity was not in violation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions banning the country from testing ballistic missile technology.

"North Korea surely has a sense that the Biden administration will try and rebuild a strong sanctions regime with the intended goal of putting more pressure on the Kim regime," said Harry Kazianis, a senior director of Korean Studies at the Center for the National Interest.