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South Korea on Thursday confirmed that no sign has been detected of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)'s test-launch of ballistic missile to mark the 64th anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.
A senior official with South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) told a regular briefing of the defense ministry that no immediate sign has been spotted yet of the DPRK's missile launch.
The JCS official said the South Korean military was closely monitoring and trailing moves of the DPRK forces through the combined U.S.-South Korea surveillance assets to prepare for possible DPRK provocations.
An official of the presidential Blue House, who declined to be identified, told reporters earlier that no sign has been found for the DPRK's missile launch, saying weather conditions were bad in areas where the DPRK's test-launch was estimated to happen.
The DPRK was forecast not to conduct any missile-test provocation at least on Thursday.
Those comments came amid global media speculations that Pyongyang had made preparations for the test-firings of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
On July 4, the DPRK announced a successful test-launch of an ICBM, dubbed Hwasong-14, which flew around 930 km and was lofted as high as about 2,800 km.
South Korea's military cast doubts on whether Pyongyang mastered the ICBM technology, saying the reentry vehicle development had yet to be demonstrated. The military called the Hwasong-14 a ballistic missile of intercontinental range.
The reentry technology is an essential part of the ICBM development as it allows the missile to pass through upper atmosphere without any damage to warhead.
Expectations had run high among local and global media outlets for Pyongyang to test-fire another intercontinental-range ballistic missile to validate its reentry technology on or around July 27 that marks the 64th anniversary of the armistice agreement.
The Korean Peninsula is technically in a state of war as the three-year war ended in armistice in 1953, not a peace treaty.
South Korea's military was bracing for all possibilities though no specific sign has been spotted of the DPRK's missile test-launch, the Blue House official said.
On July 17, the new South Korean government under President Moon Jae-in, who took office on May 10, proposed to the DPRK for holding military and Red Cross talks to ease tensions on the Korean Peninsula and discuss pressing humanitarian issues.
The dialogue on military affairs was offered to stop all hostile acts near the military demarcation line (MDL) dividing the peninsula.
The Red Cross talks were aimed to hold the reunion of families of the two sides, who have been separated since the outbreak of the Korean War, on the occasion of the traditional Chuseok holiday in early October.
Pyongyang has been mum about the dialogue overtures, raising worry about additional provocations.
Seoul's unification ministry said Wednesday that no deadline had been set for the dialogue overtures, which came as follow-up measures to President Moon's so-called "Korean Peninsula Peace Initiative" announced in early July in Berlin, Germany.
Moon had been widely forecast to inherit the "Sunshine Policy" of engagement with the DPRK through an economic cooperation and the exchanges of sports, culture and personnel.
Defense Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun told the regular press briefing earlier in the day that there has been no change in its position that urges the DPRK to positively respond to the peace initiative and the dialogue offer to defuse military tensions and build peace on the peninsula.
The spokesman said South Korea would continue its peace-building, tension-deescalating efforts regardless of the DPRK's response.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
