South Korea's intelligence agency on Monday claimed that North Korea's recent projectile launch is not provocative as they appear to be "ground-to-ground" weapons.
This comes after North Korea reportedly fired multiple "projectiles" into the sea off its east coast on Saturday. The exact weapon launched is still being analysed, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Furthermore, South Korea's National Intelligence Service stated that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to help in creating a breakthrough in stalled nuclear talks with the United States during their meeting in the Russian city of Vladivostok last month.
The two countries, the United States and North Korea, failed to resolve their differences on sanction waivers during their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam in February. This led to the summit ending abruptly, without a joint agreement which was expected to chart the future course in the denuclearisation process.
"Russia sided with the US on the North's denuclearisation, but Moscow understood Pyongyang's stance on how to implement the denuclearisation...That means North Korea and Russia seemed to have a common ground for a phased, incremental approach to the North's nuclear disarmament," the agency said during a recent briefing to the National Assembly's intelligence committee.
In the wake of the projectile launch, US President Donald Trump reaffirmed confidence in Kim on Saturday, stating that the North Korean leader would not "break his promise."
"Anything in this very interesting world is possible, but I believe that Kim Jong-un fully realises the great economic potential of North Korea, and will do nothing to interfere or end it. He also knows that I am with him and does not want to break his promise to me. Deal will happen!" Trump tweeted.