North Korea’s audaciousness in threatening the world over its nuclear capability is growing by the day. It is becoming clear that if the US fails to take punitive action against Pyongyang, the consequences could be disastrous. The Americans are restraining themselves but the inevitability of it is staring at the US in the face. A day after Pyongyang for the first time flew a ballistic missile designed to carry a nuclear payload over Japan recently, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for more weapons launches targeting the Pacific Ocean to advance his country’s ability to contain Guam, an American territory that is home to key US military bases that North Korea finds threatening. The underlying message in Kim’s rhetoric was one of defiance. He expressed “great satisfaction” over the launch that he called a “meaningful prelude” to containing Guam and said North Korea would continue to watch the U.S. demeanour before it decides future actions.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile travelled around 2,700 kilometers (1,677 miles) and reached a maximum height of 550 kilometers (341 miles) as it flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido. US President Donald Trump said North Korea had signalled its “contempt for its neighbours” and that “all options are on the table” in terms of a US response. The Japanese felt shaken and rattled by the missile. North Korea has conducted launches at an unusually fast pace this year– many as 13 launches, and some analysts believe it could have viable long-range nuclear missiles before the end of Trump’s first term in early 2021. Seoul says that while North Korea has twice before fired rockets it said were carrying satellites over Japan in 1998 and 2009, it has never before used a ballistic missile, which is unambiguously designed for military strikes.
One shudders to think what could be the consequences of US attacks on North Korea’s nuclear installations. Whether the North Koreans would have the ability to strike back at the US through inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) is still debatable despite tall claims, but more certain is the fact that the US economy and consequently economies around the world would suffer grievously.
