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Pyongyang bound to rebuff Russian-Chinese roadmap on Korean Peninsula crisis, expert says

On Tuesday, North Korean TV announced the first successful launch of its Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile

© AP Photo/Wong Maye-E

SEOUL, July 5. /TASS/. North Korea is unlikely to accept the roadmap put forward by Russia and China on settling the Korean Peninsula crisis, a senior fellow at the Institute for North East Asian Research (NEAR), Kan On Sik, told TASS on Wednesday.

"Now North Korea’s missile and nuclear program has reached such a level that it is disadvantageous to freeze it. Most likely, the North now will strive to bring to a logical end to the development and creation of a full-fledged intercontinental ballistic missile with a compact nuclear charge. This will give it a trump card at the future talks," the expert stressed.

TENSIONS ON THE KOREAN PENINSULA

"That’s why today the proposals of Moscow and Beijing are not too attractive for Pyongyang, so it’s unlikely that it will accept them," he noted.

The next step North Korea may take is to carry out a new nuclear test, the expert warned. "The intercontinental ballistic missile has been successfully tested and now it’s time to create a rather compact nuclear warhead for it," the scientist said.

"Apparently, Moscow and Beijing will have to take a timeout and wait until the fuss around the launch dies down," he noted.

The roadmap, released shortly before North Korea’s missile launch on Tuesday, contains "rational ideas that may indeed deescalate the situation if there is a right approach," he noted. Among them is the resumption of dialogue, abandoning destabilizing steps by both North Korea and South Korea, including a moratorium on missile and nuclear tests and quitting large-scale joint drills conducted by the US and South Korea.

On Tuesday, North Korean TV announced the first successful launch of its Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile. The missile reached an altitude of 2,802 kilometers and flew 933 kilometers within 39 minutes. The missile launch was ordered by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Monday.

The statement, published by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Tuesday, says that as a full-fledged nuclear nation, which possesses the most powerful ICBM, "North Korea is capable of delivering a strike on any region of the globe, and will bring an end to the specter of war coming from the United States, and ensure safe protection of peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in the whole region."

According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the North Korean missile could be a medium-range one, because it rose to the altitude of 535 km, way below the declared 2,802 kilometers, and covered the distance of about 510 kilometers. The US Department of Defense also published similar figures.

North Korea has so far carried out five nuclear tests, including two of them last year.

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