North Korea has once again heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula with a launch of several short-range ballistic missiles that targeted the sea off its east coast. This display occurred early Tuesday morning amid heightened international concerns and speculation about North Korea’s military objectives, particularly as it advances its missile technology and increases weapon testing frequency.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) initially detected one missile but later confirmed that “several” missiles were fired from the Sariwon area, a city located south of the capital, Pyongyang. These missiles reportedly travelled the distance of 400kilometres covering 248 miles to a landing place in the East Sea alternatively known as the Sea of Japan.
The missile launch has become another provocative move on the part of Pyongyang, one in which it continues to boast about its developing military capabilities to neighbor countries and the general international community.
In past weeks, the country has dramatically picked up its pace concerning the testing of weapons and, more importantly, testing the short-range ballistic missile along with more advanced ICBMs, including their newly developed solid-fueled Hwasong-19 ICBM hailed by North Korean state media as the “world’s strongest ICBM”.
Increasing Regional Tensions
The most recent missile launch has sparked stinging responses from South Korea, Japan, and the US. It has been keenly watched by South Korea and her allies, as well as information sharing over Pyongyang’s missile activities. South Korea’s JCS issued a statement emphasizing that it stood “fully ready” with coordination with the US and Japan to deal with threats against North Korea’s missile launching. In response, Japan’s coastguard confirmed that a projectile had splashed down in the sea, though it fell outside Japan’s maritime exclusive economic zone.
Japan, South Korea, and the United States have also been conducting their own military exercises, which North Korea often interprets as signs of potential aggression. As if on cue, South Korea, Japan, and the US staged a joint air exercise last week just days before North Korea conducted its latest missile test involving advanced fighter jets including the US B-1B bomber, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, and Japanese F-2 aircraft. To North Korea, these are invasion rehearsals, pushing it to harden its missile and nuclear capabilities. Those exercises justify our nuclear program, Kim Yo Jong said according to North Korea’s state news agency KCNA.
Timing of North Korea’s military provocations especially is very eloquent.
According to South Korean officials, Pyongyang’s acts may be aimed at grabbing attention from Washington as the US is gearing up for presidential elections. Recently, South Korea’s Minister of National Defence, Kim Yong-hyun, said North Korea could step up military displays to exaggerate their existence and tell the US a thing or two. At this hour, North Korea might well be attempting to negotiate for engagement or concessions through diplomacy with the West on a basis of military action advantage.
The missile launches also come at a time when North Korea is suspected to be preparing for its seventh nuclear test, with South Korean intelligence warning that North Korea may be ready to conduct this test at any time. In case the nuclear test takes place, it would mark another escalation and intensify the existing tension between North Korea and its neighboring countries as well as the United States.
Arms for Russia? Global Fears Mount
In light of the missiles being launched by the country lately, there have been new reports that are ringing alarm bells over it forming a partnership with Russia. South Korean and EU officials have raised their “deep concern” on the emerging potential exchanges in military support and technology from Pyongyang to Moscow.
South Korea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Cho Tae-yul and the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, in a recent meeting in Seoul, urged North Korea and Russia to scrap any deals that could involve weapons or ballistic missile technology transfer. Borrell said that such deals would “jeopardize international non-proliferation efforts and threaten peace and stability” worldwide.
These concerns are at a time when reports have emerged that North Korea is providing weapons and even personnel to bolster Russia’s forces fighting in Ukraine. Though North Korea has denied that its soldiers were ever sent to Ukraine, one of its vice foreign ministers said any use of their troops by Russia would be entirely lawful.
If fully realized, this alignment between Russia and North Korea would have major geopolitical implications, exacerbating instability in an already unstable region.
A New Normal in the Korean Peninsula?
The continued development of North Korea’s missile program, including its solid-fuel ICBMs, has only heightened concerns over its capabilities and intentions. State media in the country have termed the Hwasong-19 ICBM tested on October 31 the “world’s strongest ICBM.”
The new weapon of the country shows a development in the technology of missiles: rapid deployment and potential challenges for an adversary to track and intercept launches. This development has fueled the anxieties of regional players, who fear that North Korea’s advances in weaponry may shift the military balance in Northeast Asia.
Missile tests and inflammatory rhetoric from Pyongyang indicate that North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, intends to entrench himself further and use military power as a mainstay of his regime. Not exactly new; Pyongyang has always relied on its military prowess as a bargaining chip on the international stage, often in ways that are roundly condemned by the rest of the world.
So, What’s Next?
The international community is left to confront the hard question of what to do about the increasingly belligerent actions of North Korea. All three members of the axis of threat-the United States, South Korea, and Japan-have pledged to continue their close defense cooperation and stage regular joint military exercises that North Korea sees as threatening. The diplomatic side is no less contentious, as North Korea shows little appetite for rejoining denuclearization talks unless Pyongyang gets significant security guarantees and relief on sanctions.
The South Korean and European leaders have warned that it is completely unacceptable North Korea moves in concert with its partnership with Russia. The central challenge of the United States and all its allies, however will be how to deter an aggressive North Korea without fuelling the increasing tensions between them and in the regional environment.
The Korean Peninsula enters uncertain times with the North’s missile program now more advanced than ever, as tensions escalate. The future of stability or conflict in Northeast Asia depends on how the world responds to Pyongyang’s posturing and possible alliance with Russia. With the stakes never higher, the North’s ambitions and the possibility of miscalculation are sobering realities.