US remains concerned North Korea will conduct another missile test

WASHINGTON, July 16 (Reuters) – White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday the Biden administration remains concerned that North Korea will move forward with another intercontinental ballistic missile test.

“I have been concerned for some time that North Korea would conduct what would be its seventh nuclear test,” Sullivan said during an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation.

“I don’t see any immediate indications that’s going to happen, but it would not come as a surprise if North Korea moves forward with another test with respect to its intercontinental ballistic missile capability,” he said.

In June, North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its east coast as Sullivan met his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Tokyo.

A spokesperson for North Korea’s Ministry of National Defence had said back then that drills conducted by South Korea and the United States were escalating the military tension in the region and its forces would respond to “any kind of protests or provocations by enemies”.

North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programmes are banned by United Nations Security Council resolutions that have sanctioned the country.

Diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions or persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear arsenal have been stalled.

Reporting by Nandita Bose in Washington; Editing by Hugh Lawson

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