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US President Donald Trump talks to reporters at the White House on May 9. (EPA/Yonhap News)

US President Donald Trump said that the US is looking “very seriously” at North Korea’s test-launch of two suspected short-range missiles on the afternoon of May 9.

“Nobody is happy about it,” he said.

While he noted that negotiations with Pyongyang were continuing, Trump also said, “I don’t think they’re ready to negotiate.”

Meeting with reporters at the White House around noon on May 9, Trump was asked about the North Korean test launch that had taken place a few hours earlier.

“They were smaller missiles – short-range missiles,” he noted.

“Nobody is happy about it,” he said, adding that the US was “looking at it very seriously right now.”

“The relationship [with North Korea] continues, but we’ll see what happens,” he added.

“I know they want to negotiate. They’re talking about negotiating,” he observed before adding, “But I don’t think they’re ready to negotiate.”

Trump also said, “North Korea has tremendous potential, economically. And I don’t think [leader Kim Jong-un is] going to blow that.”

Trump’s response was read as signaling that while North Korea’s test launch is being viewed as a negotiation tactic, the US does not plan to back down until Pyongyang demonstrates a different attitude in the denuclearization talks. North Korea has been calling for relief from key sanctions in exchange for the dismantlement of its Yongbyon nuclear complex, while the US is calling for a “big deal” exchanging complete denuclearization for full-scale sanctions relief.

Following North Korea’s launch of several short-range projectiles toward the East Sea on May 4, Trump tweeted that Kim “knows that I am with him & does not want to break his promise to me.”

“Deal will happen!” he predicted at the time. With the latest test launch coming five later, his response was more strongly pitched, with references to viewing the situation “very seriously” and “nobody [being] happy.” For that reason, observers are watching to see how the US administration responds going forward.

Coincidentally, the US Justice Department announced a few hours after North Korea’s projectile launch on May 4 that it had seized the Wise Honest, a North Korea cargo vessel suspected of violating international sanctions by illegally carrying and transporting North Korean coal. Assistant Attorney General John Demers described it as the first seizure of a North Korean cargo vessel for violating international sanctions. In April 2018, the Wise Honest was detained in Indonesia with around 25,000 tons of North Korean coal on board; the vessel was subsequently delivered into the hands of the US, which began seizure and confiscation procedures. Noting that the announcement came just a few hours after North Korea’s latest projectile launch, the AP said it had come “amid a tense moment in relations between the two countries.”

Meanwhile, the AP also reported the US Air Force’s test launch of the Minuteman 3 ICBM at 12:40 am on May 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Corresponding to 4:40 pm the same day Korea time, the timing nearly overlapped with North Korea’s launches of two suspected short-range missiles at 4:29 pm and 4:49 pm from Kusong, North Pyongan Province.

The US Air Force Global Strike Command stressed, “Test launches are not a response or reaction to world events or regional tensions.”

The US’ ICBM test launch had been planned for several months beforehand, the AP reported. But the overlapping timing between the North Korea and US test launches and enforcement of sanctions appears to signal a rise in tensions.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

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