In the past few months, North Korea has been ramping up the intensity of its ballistic tests. In a span of fewer than two weeks, the country has fired a dozen missiles, which were separated into six separate launches. At the same time that the United Nations Security Council met on Thursday to examine an earlier launch on Tuesday, two fresh launches took place over the Korean peninsula and 12 fighter planes passed overhead. According to Antoine Bondaz, a researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research, “this is an exceptional year” in terms of the number of trials that have taken place so far in 2018.
Pyongyang, which was particularly impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak, had decreased the pace of its armed provocation for the previous two years. But there are signs of improvement. According to Antoine Bondaz’s explanation, North Korea conducted a total of 27 ballistic tests in 2019, although the number has already surpassed thirty this year. On the other hand, it is not out of the ordinary for Pyongyang to conduct many training shots. According to the expert, Kim Jong Un has also participated in more ballistic testing in one year than his father did in fifteen years combined. Raphaelle Pierre, a Ph.D. student in political science at Inalco, opines that “it’s a form of resumption of ordinary activities of North Korea” for her part in the analysis.
The “door of opportunity” that Pyongyang has.
According to Antoine Bondaz, though, there is a “window of opportunity” for North Korea right now. A scientist has deciphered that “now there are three dynamics for the benefit of North Korea: the trivialization of the tests which have multiplied over the years, a distraction – the international community is focused on Ukraine – and a worldwide discord.” The world community’s attention has been diverted away from the Korean peninsula in recent years as a direct result of the Russian invasion. And in the process, it destroys itself for the advantage of the authoritarian state.
Because of vetoes cast by China and Russia in May of this year, the Asian nation was spared additional United Nations sanctions that were intended to penalise it for its missile tests. “The more dissension there is between China and the United States, the more room for manoeuvre a state like North Korea enjoys; and she is very skilful in playing on these dissensions and increasing them,” notes Guibourg Delamotte, a lecturer at Inalco and researcher at the French Institute for Research on East Asia. “The more dissension there is between China and the United States, the more room for manoeuvre a state like North Korea enjoys; and she is very skilled Her words were, “North Korea is an adjustment variable: when things are going well between China and the United States, Beijing votes on the resolutions.” She was speaking of the relationship between China and the United States. If not, it presents an opportunity to challenge the government in Washington.
Demonstrate that you can be trusted.
The current state of international affairs is consequently advantageous for Pyongyang, which is seizing the opportunity to “upgrade its ballistic arsenal,” as Raphael Pierre states. The “irreversible” character of North Korea’s status as nuclear power was officially acknowledged by the country in September. In a nutshell, the authoritarian leadership now has the legal authority to carry out a preventative nuclear strike whenever it deems that it is in danger. “North Korea wants to be seen as a state with nuclear weapons and these tests are a method of demonstrating its credibility,” notes the PhD student, who goes on to specify that the dictatorship does not aim to use the atomic bomb in any form. “These tests are a way of proving its credibility,”
Pyongyang has unequivocally demonstrated that it does not intend to denuclearize its nuclear arsenal. According to Antoine Bondaz’s recollection, “the constitution was revised in 2012 to include nuclear weapons; to my knowledge, it is the only country in the world that has done that.” The most recent North Korean ballistic tests involved missiles with a range between short and medium.
Attacks with missiles directed at “American imperialism”
Because of Pyongyang’s ballistic tests, which contribute to the modification of the existing power balance on the peninsula. The tensions are also very apparent, as seen by the fact that the vice president of the United States travelled to Seoul the week before last in order to fortify the security partnership with South Korea. A few hours later, Kim Jong-un issued orders for the launch of two ballistic missiles with a short range. In recent weeks, Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington have significantly increased the scale of their cooperative military training, which includes anti-submarine warfare drills as well as large-scale naval operations. The North Korean government pays a lot of attention to the geopolitical situation in its neighbourhood.
“The tensions in Taiwan [between Washington and Beijing] encourage North Korea in the perception that “American imperialism” is a real threat. [Citation needed]” According to Pyongyang, the United States has “colonised” the southern portion of the Korean peninsula, as Raphaelle Pierre points out. The international diplomacy of Joe Biden, who has returned to a line comparable to that of Barack Obama and, unlike his predecessor, has not attempted to get closer to Kim Jong-un, is another factor that contributes to the revitalised aggressiveness of Pyongyang. Biden has returned to a line similar to that of Barack Obama.
