REUTERS
August 17, 2023 at 17:40 JST
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a key military factory in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 14, 2023. (KCNA via Reuters)
SEOUL--North Korea may launch an intercontinental ballistic missile or take other military action to protest a summit between the United States, South Korea and Japan, a South Korean lawmaker said on Thursday, citing the country's intelligence agency.
U.S. President Joe Biden will hold a meeting at Camp David on Friday with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, hoping to tighten ties between Seoul and Tokyo amid nuclear threats from North Korea and China's influence in the region.
North Korea has criticized deepening military cooperation among the three nations as part of a dangerous prelude to the creation of an “Asian version of NATO.”
The reclusive state could also attempt another spy satellite launch at the end of August or early September after failing to put the country's first such platform into space in May, Yoo Sang-bum, a member of the South Korean parliament, told reporters after meeting the chief of the National Intelligence Service.
Yoo said there was a chance the North would launch the satellite to celebrate its founding anniversary on Sept. 9.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has made it a priority to conduct a launch during the second half of this year, Yoo noted.
North Korea and Russia agreed on broad defense cooperation when the Russian defense minister met Kim last month and watched a military parade with him in Pyongyang, Yoo quoted South Korean intelligence as saying.
“The National Intelligence Service is anticipating that Russia and North Korea will speed up their defense cooperation and it is closely tracing movements” to spot any possible Russian transfer of nuclear missile technology to Pyongyang, the lawmaker said.
The United States has accused North Korea of providing weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, which it calls a “special operation,” including artillery shells, shoulder-fired rockets and missiles. Pyongyang and Moscow have denied arms transactions.
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