Moscow (Reuters) – It has been reported by the Russian official that was on a visit to North Korea that Pyongyang is ready to test a long-range missile. According to reports, this one could potentially reach the west coast of the United States.
Russia’s news agency RIA confirmed that Anton Morozov, a member of the Russian lower house of parliament’s international affairs committee, and two other country’s officials visited the “rogue” state. They were in North Korea from Oct. 2 to Oct. 6.
Here is what Morozov stated after his visit: “They are preparing for new tests of a long-range missile. They even gave us mathematical calculations that they believe prove that their missile can hit the west coast of the United States.” He continued by adding “As far as we understand, they intend to launch one more long-range missile in the near future. And in general, their mood is rather belligerent.”
North Korea is continuing its development of both nuclear bomb and long-range missiles as their goal is to create a weapon that will be able to reach mainland territory of the U.S. This resulted in further rising of tensions as we recently saw few missile tests and, according to Pyongyang, successful test of an advanced hydrogen bomb.
One of the results of reports that came from Moscow is the price increase of the U.S. Treasury bonds. This always happens in times of uncertainty as investors are looking for security and one of those certainly are these bonds.
Morozov’s claims were not confirmed, and it hasn’t been specified which officials from Pyongyang delivered the news of future tests. Additionally, the Russian embassy in Pyongyang has affirmed that their delegation had high-level meetings with North Korean representatives.
According to some U.S. officials from Washington, it has been reported that it is possible for the North Korea is planning to test another missile. This could be done as a celebration of the founding of the Korean Workers Party, and it could happen around Oct. 10. It is also interesting date since it is a day after the Columbus Day in the U.S.
The official that wanted to stay anonymous said that there are no details what type of missile NA is allegedly planning to test and also added that we could previously hear reports about plans for a test that were later postponed.
One of the senior CIA analysts is confident that we will see some kind of provocation from Pyongyang on Oct. 10, but there were no further details regarding his claim.
CIA’s Korea Mission Center deputy assistant director Yong Suk Lee said: “There is a clarity of purpose in what (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Un is doing. I don’t think he’s done. In fact, I told my own staff (that) October 10th is the Korean Workers Party founding day. That’s Tuesday in North Korea, but Monday – the Columbus Day holiday – in the United States. So stand by your phones.”
Over the past few weeks, tensions are rising as more tests are conducted by North Korea. On top of that, we could hear heavy words exchange from both sides.
President of the United States Donald Trump threatened to “totally destroy” North Korea in case its leader and government continue with threats against U.S. and its allies. Kim Jong-un answered saying that Trump is deranged and that he will pay dearly for his words.
More details are coming from Morozov, one of the LDPR members that is a right-wing populist party. Even they are representing themselves as opposition they tend to be quite close to the government when it comes to international affairs.
Morozov described North Korean officials suggesting that they are quite determined and are promoting bellicose rhetoric. “The situation, of course, demands the swiftest intervention of all interested states, particularly those represented in the region, in order to prevent wide-scale military action.”
It is clear that Russia has stronger relations with North Korea than other countries that are also involved in solving this crisis. One of the reasons for this certainly is Kim Il Sung, grandfather of Kim Jon un and the founder of North Korea that has lived in the Soviet Union for a while.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is also one of the leaders that condemn North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, but it is clear that he has a different approach, much softer, to this situation.
In one of his statements, Putin told that Kim Jong-un will not be forced to give up on their weapons program. He also said that the U.S. is trying to change the regime in North Korea but warned that could easily cause the chaos.
As we already pointed out, prices of U.S. Treasury bonds went up as the news of another missile test appeared. This resulted in pulling yields lower, and risk cut moves by investors that brought them to the safety of Treasuries.
Reports show that: “Benchmark 10 year U.S. Treasury yields dropped from the session high 2.40 percent mark US10YT=TWEB to 2.35 percent around midday (1600 GMT) in New York.”
Here is the statement from Justin Lederer, Treasury analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in New York: “It has just been risk-off buying into the long (Columbus Day) weekend … You look at the charts, it has really been a one-way trade of lower yields.”
