North Korea is boasting about the capabilities of its latest missiles amid speculation over whether the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, will meet President Trump next week during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) gathering in South Korea.

Pak Jong-chon, secretary of the central committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, described two hypersonic projectiles tested on Wednesday as “the new cutting-edge weapon” and “clear proof of steadily upgrading self-defensive capabilities of the DPRK” (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea).

Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency, in an English-language dispatch, stated that “the DPRK’s activities” were “evidently aimed to continue to bolster up the war deterrent” in order “to strengthen self-defense.”

The timing of the tests suggests they were intended as a warning to President Trump ahead of his meetings with the leaders of America’s two Northeast Asian allies, Japan and South Korea, and possibly China’s president, Xi Jinping, before or during the APEC conference.

After attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday and Monday, Mr. Trump will fly to Tokyo to meet Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, on Tuesday. He is expected to conclude his trip in the ancient South Korean city of Gyeongju before the APEC conference begins next Friday.

It remains uncertain whether Mr. Trump will have more than a polite exchange with Mr. Xi, and even less certain if he will meet Mr. Kim. The two leaders previously met three times, forging an unusual bond.

If a Trump-Kim meeting does take place, it will most likely occur at the truce village of Panmunjom on the North-South Korean border, where they last met in June 2019 in an unsuccessful attempt to reach an agreement. That meeting followed the failed Hanoi summit four months later.

At the heart of these talks is North Korea’s refusal to abandon its nuclear program. However, Mr. Trump might attempt to connect with Mr. Kim by focusing on steps toward reconciliation and avoiding the usual demand for North Korea to give up its nuclear arsenal.

Vague hints have slightly raised the longshot possibility of a Trump-Kim rendezvous, if not a full-scale summit. One such hint is that Mr. Kim did not make a public appearance at the latest missile tests. In the past, he often personally launched missile tests, sometimes accompanied by his tween-aged daughter, Ju-ae.
https://www.nysun.com/article/north-korea-test-fires-new-missiles-as-speculation-increases-about-trump-kim-meeting-in-asia-next-week