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Three Summits. Five Launches. One Bromance.

Christy Lee

   WASHINGTON - After three summits and several exchanges of letters
   between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong
   Un, Washington must now deal with Pyongyang's five missile tests since
   February and near muted talks on denuclearization, results generated by
   Trump's lack of criticism of the launches, experts said.

   North Korea fired two more missilesFriday, making the launch [1]a third
   test in just more than a week. The launch follows two other tests it
   conducted Wednesday and last Thursday.

     Kim Jong Un and North Korea tested 3 short range missiles over the
     last number of days. These missiles tests are not a violation of our
     signed Singapore agreement, nor was there discussion of short range
     missiles when we shook hands. There may be a United Nations
     violation, but..
     -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) [2]August 2, 2019

   Earlier this year, on May 4 and May 9, [3]North Korea conducted
   launches and broke 18 months of abstaining from raising provocations on
   the Korean Peninsula as it began denuclearization diplomacy with the
   Trump administration that culminated in the historical Singapore summit
   in June 2018.

   Friday's launch marks the fifth launch North Korea has conducted since
   the [4]Hanoi summit ended without reaching a meaningful agreement on
   denuclearization in February, stalling talks for months to follow.

References

   1. https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/n-korea-conducts-third-launch-eight-days-amid-stalled-talks
   2. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1157306442422136834?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
   3. https://www.voanews.com/east-asia-pacific/north-korea-fires-two-short-range-missiles
   4. https://www.voanews.com/usa/trump-kim-summit-ends-no-agreement

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