As the possibility of World War III looms greater than it has in decades, Russia has commended North Korea for resuming missile testing and heightened tensions with the West.
Russia's foreign ministry today hailed the "understandable" decision to restart ballistic missile tests and stated that military cooperation between the US and South Korea has only expanded since the tests were paused.
Because Washington opted to sanction Pyongyang, Pyotr Ilyichyov, the head of the ministry's international organizations section, sees no grounds for the resumption of denuclearization discussions. The alarming remarks come as fresh satellite photographs show Kim Jong Un reopening a nuclear testing facility that was shut down in 2018.
After being shuttered for four years, parts of the Punggye-Ri test site were blown up, but photographs reveal restorations and new facilities at the test site, raising suspicions among US security experts that Kim Jong Un plans to restart his nuclear program this year.
US, Other Countries Condemn North Korea's Nuclear Missile Launch
After Vladimir Putin's ruthless invasion of Ukraine, Russia's nuclear defenses were beefed up, and he issued terrifying warnings of atomic catastrophe. The two regimes formed an alliance at a time when global tensions were at an all-time high, Daily Mail reported.
The thought of another anti-Western despot wielding nuclear weapons will do nothing to alleviate the world's current fear. According to the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), recent satellite photographs of Punggye-Ri indicate early signs of activity, including a new facility, renovations to another, and what seems to be timber and sawdust.
In January, North Korea conducted a series of missile tests, including the biggest since 2017, and looks ready to launch a spy satellite. International monitors have also observed that the North's primary nuclear reactor site at Yongbyon looks operational, with the capacity to produce nuclear weapons fuel.
According to ABC News, the United States and ten other nations criticized North Korea's latest ballistic missile launch on Monday. They urged the UN Security Council to act, saying the body's inactivity erodes the UN's most powerful body's credibility and weakens global efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation.
After a secret Security Council briefing on North Korea's 11th ballistic missile launch since the beginning of the year on Saturday, which its neighbors detected, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield read a statement from the 11 nations. Experts believe the launches are an attempt by North Korea to expand its arsenal of weapons systems while also pressuring the US to make concessions amid stalled dialogue.
Albania, Australia, Brazil, France, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States are among the 11 nations that have stated their commitment to "serious and persistent diplomacy" with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea Continues Building Nuclear Test Site
According to a recent report, construction continues at North Korea's Punggye-ri nuclear test site. The first evidence of activity since sections of it were publicly exploded in 2018 after leader Kim Jong Un announced a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing.
The work is "extremely early," according to the report, but it might suggest Pyongyang's ambitions to reopen the facility in order to test newer and more powerful nuclear bombs.
North Korea has not conducted a nuclear test or fired an intercontinental ballistic missile since 2017. Still, Kim Jong Un sparked fears in January when he said he could be willing to end a self-imposed moratorium.
Per UPI, Pyongyang has accelerated its missile program in 2022, launching nine projectiles so far, including long-range cruise missiles, a rumored hypersonic weapon, and an intermediate-range ballistic missile.
North Korea restarted activity during the last two weekends, claiming that the launches were tests for a spy satellite after a break that observers thought was linked to the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February. The burst of activity coincides with South Korea's presidential election, which will take place on Wednesday.
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