WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Any North Korean weapons tests in the coming five days may overshadow President Joe Biden’s trip to support Asian allies against China. Analysts say.

Biden promised to make progress in the denuclearization negotiations with North Korea, but despite this promise, there hasn’t been any since his arrival in office in the early 2021. Kim Jong Un, North Korean leader, has resumed firing his most powerful missiles.

GRAPHIC: North Korean ballistic missile programme – https://graphics.reuters.com/NORTHKOREA-MISSILES/mopandankva/graphic.jpg

According to U.S. officials and South Korean officials, North Korea appears to be planning another intercontinental ballistic-missile test. It could occur as soon as Thursday, or even Friday.

Pyongyang launched ICBMs again this year but has not used a nuclear weapon since 2017.

Officials and analysts see this as less probable than a missile launch, even though Jake Sullivan, the U.S. National Security Head, stated Wednesday that it was possible.

Ankit Panda (of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) explained Kim’s probable motivation via Twitter (NYSE.:) He had used the accomplishments of “the national defense industry” as a beacon through the difficult economic times over the last two-years.

Panda claimed that even a nuke or missile attack shouldn’t prevent Washington and Seoul offering unconditional aid to North Korea’s COVID struggle.

Yoon offered to assist North Korea in its COVID crisis. Analysts expect Biden will support this effort even though his administration said that it does not plan to ship vaccines to North Korea directly and Pyongyang refused to participate through the global vaccine initiative.

Biden will not be visiting the Demilitarized Zone, which divides North Korea and South Korea. This is a departure from plans last week when such a visit was being considered.

Biden has maintained a policy that allows for diplomacy to be done with North Korea. However, Russia and China have favored the idea of offering sanctions relief before Pyongyang takes action to end its nuclear weapons programs.