[NewsNOW] North Korea launches ballistic missiles...provocation just before the U.S. presidential election

■ Host: Anchor Lee Ha-rin and Anchor Jung Ji-woong
■ Starring: Kim Yeol-soo, Director of Security Strategy at the Korea Military Research Institute

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN NewsNOW] when quoting.

[Anchor]
The day of the U.S. presidential election, the showdown, has come. There's less than an hour left. It is expected to be the fiercest race of all time.

In line with this, North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea this morning. At the start of the main vote for the U.S. presidential election, let's talk in detail with Kim Yeol-soo, head of the Security Strategy Office at the Korea Institute for Military Studies. Welcome.

North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile this morning for the first time in five days, and it should be said that the U.S. presidential election was in mind, right?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
I can't say it's not at all. In fact, I think that the U.S. presidential election was fully shown by the launch of the Hwasong-19 type late last month, that is, on October 31. I think this would have affected the U.S. presidential election right now. However, what was launched this morning is that North Korea fired, saying that South Korea, the U.S., and South Korea, the U.S. and Japan provided an excuse for the escalation of the situation. The reason is that North Korea launched Hwasong-19 at the end of last month. As a result, South Korea and the United States actually mobilized 110 fighter jets and trained between South Korea and the United States with strategic bombers called B-1B death swans. At the same time, they mobilized the ability to accurately strike North Korea's missile launchers and directly hit a specific person. It's a drone. Then, about two days later, the ROK-U.S.-Japan joint air force training was conducted. As a result, I think North Korea fired this missile today because it thought it had to respond to it. I don't know how much the voters of the United States would be interested in this when they're out of their minds, of course.Ma thinks that the U.S. has already shown enough toward the U.S. through the Hwasong-19 type at the end of last month.

[Anchor]
Today is the day of the U.S. presidential election. From North Korea's point of view, who is more advantageous to be president?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
If you look at the comments made by Trump so far by the two people, Harris, you can see which one is favorable to North Korea. In the case of candidate Harris, he defined her as a dictator. And he expressed that he wouldn't fawn over a dictator like Kim Jong-un. That's why it's a bit of a burden for North Korea. In the case of Trump, he kept saying a lot of favorable comments. So isn't it good to get along with a country with nuclear weapons? And I want to eat hamburgers together, and Kim Jong-un will miss me. So if Trump is elected, we could have about one North Korea-US nuclear negotiation between North Korea and the U.S. That's because what North Korea wants is not denuclearization negotiations, but nuclear disarmament negotiations. That's why from Kim Jong-un's point of view, he prefers Trump to Harris, who is likely to negotiate nuclear disarmament.

[Anchor]
The U.S. presidential election will affect many areas, including the North Korean issue and the current war in Ukraine, but Trump has long said that if he becomes president, he can end the war in Ukraine with a phone call. So how does the war in Ukraine get affected by the U.S. presidential election and take the final steps?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
Since he is such a bluffer, it can be a basis for us to misjudge ourselves to believe all the bluff and see that it will be done as it is. Sometimes there's a lot of bluffing. It is similar to public change, but it is sharply different from candidates Harris and Trump on this. Candidate Harris said about the war in Ukraine and how to talk about Ukraine, and Ukraine's independence and security are important. That's why we've been saying that we need to help Ukraine. Trump, on the other hand, is different. From Trump's point of view, I told President Zelenskyy directly what I'm talking about to Ukraine now. He said he shouldn't have fought the war, but he even briefed President Trump last month on what Zelensky called his plan to win.

We say we'll win if we do this. I didn't say a word about it. And yet what I keep saying is that I'm going to finish this problem through negotiations with Russia. Vance's words are much more provocative. He said that peace and territorial exchange are necessary, and that if we try to achieve peace, we must eventually recognize the land that Russia has occupied so far. They even threatened that the U.S. would not support Ukraine if it did not come to the negotiations. In that sense, if Harris is elected, North Korea has even sent troops to Russia more than it is now. There may be more support, but if Trump is elected president, wouldn't he make those efforts to negotiate? If that happens, this could be a huge disaster for Ukraine, and a very dangerous situation could develop for European security, so let's see.

[Anchor]
It's Putin's closest ally. Medvedev, vice chairman of the National Security Council, recently said this in a local interview. So he said that if the United States continues to intervene in the Ukraine conflict, World War III could happen. Then, even if Trump is actually elected president, I think it will be difficult to come to the negotiating table.

[Kim Yeolsoo]
That's because if Trump becomes president, he will lead toward negotiations, so there's a more possibility that the war against Ukraine will be concluded in any form. In fact, I can tell you that President Trump does not care about Ukraine. But the possibility of World War III now is that if, for example, NATO is now sending troops to support Ukraine, this could go to World War III. But just because individual countries that are in NATO or in Europe are sending combat troops to support Ukraine, I don't think this is connected to World War III. In the case of France, President Macron said five times in February that 2,000 French troops could be sent to Ukraine. Now, everyone is holding their breath for today's U.S. presidential election, but after this election, depending on the results, there is a possibility that individual countries, whether NATO or Europe, will go through some sort of conference process and maybe send troops through policy cooperation. But I don't think it's going to go to World War III.

[Anchor]
It won't be until World War III. The war in Ukraine is closely related to us as North Korean troops have been sent anyway, so we have to watch, but North Korean Foreign Minister Choi Sun-hee is visiting Russia. But it was revealed that he was holding hands with Putin. How did you see this?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
I saw that through the video, too. When you shake hands, you have to shake hands and let go of your hands, but you did it for a minute. So I thought about what kind of situation that was, but I think it shows that Russia is treating North Korea that much through a screen like that, by shaking hands for a minute.
[Anchor]
What did we talk about?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
In my view, I would have said everything necessary with Foreign Minister Lavrov. I'm probably not planning to meet with President Putin, but I'm saying I met him. I think that's how considerate they are. In my view, there are two things in a big way. One would be what Russia wants to get from North Korea, on the contrary, what North Korea wants to get from Russia as a counter benefit, and there would have been an exchange of opinions on that. More importantly, it may be related to Kim Jong-un's visit to Russia. The reason is because, from Russia's point of view, North Korea is the most urgent, most urgent, and most important country. So, isn't it necessary to invite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to the extent that I really want to invite him and treat him to a meal? That's why I probably talked about it. Then, if this develops like this, the presidential election will be over and until he takes office on January 20 next year. Then, there is roughly a month or two left, so there is a possibility that Kim Jong-un may be called in using that period. Therefore, there is a possibility that Russia and North Korea will show off their close ties to the newly launched US administration. In that sense, I think that Kim Jong-un's visit to Russia might have been discussed much more in-depth.

[Anchor]
Some people say that North Korea might try to gain the status of a nuclear power in exchange for sending North Korean troops, what do you think of this?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
I think Russia has already almost acknowledged that part. Because in March last year, President Putin said in an interview with a Russian daily newspaper that North Korea already has a nuclear umbrella. What do you mean by that? North Korea already has a nuclear umbrella. It's not a nuclear umbrella that Russia provides, but it has its own nuclear umbrella. At that time, I already thought that was a statement that Russia recognized North Korea's nuclear weapons state. But this time, when Choi Sun-hee went, she said something similar. the so-called deterrent, deterrent So, strategic deterrence refers to nuclear weapons after all. When Choi Sun-hee went this time, she talked about strategic nuclear deterrence as if she agreed, so in the end, from Russia's point of view, I guess it's acknowledging North Korea's nuclear weapons possession.

[Anchor]
I can't help but wonder what the North Korean troops sent to Russia are like now, but there are reports that the first North Korean troops sent to Russia have been attacked by Ukrainian forces. We prepared a video. Show me when you're ready. According to Radio Free Asia, there are also reports that Russian armored vehicles left behind infantry believed to be North Korean troops on the battlefield. This is the estimated video.Ma is this video right now. There's an armoured car like that right now. After a while, the infantry get off like that. There are about three people, but it has not been confirmed whether they are North Korean soldiers or not. It's supposed to be a video, but if the North Korean military is right, why did this happen?

[Kim Yeolsoo]
First of all, the purpose of the armored vehicle is to wear gloves. So that's for troop transport. That's the armored vehicle that allows troops to be safely transported to any area. When you get off the armored vehicle to a certain target point, the troops will get off there. As you can see in that video, we're putting down the troops and that armoured vehicle is turning in reverse. As a result, I can see all the troops who got off now. If that's the North Korean military, I think that there was probably a critical problem in communication between the Russian military and the North Korean military there, driving or commanding armoured vehicles. The North Korean military is trying to learn Russian with 100 words, and on the contrary, the Russian military is also trying to learn Korean, but it can't be learned that quickly. It's not easy to learn 100 words just by learning them, so get off now, get on, do something, go over there, all of these things will be written in sentences, is that easy? So there's a big problem with communication and there's a possibility that it could appear as a sacrifice of the North Korean military in a way, let's look at it like this.

[Anchor]
It's a moment less than an hour before the U.S. presidential election. We talked about various things with Kim Yeol-soo, head of the Security Strategy Office of the Korea Institute for Military Studies, about what North Korea's provocations mean. Thank you, manager.