North Korea has ramped up their testing of missiles in the past few days. North Korea today fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea.... in the direction of Japan. This is the latest sign that the nation continues to develop its weapons program. This was North Korea’s sixth missile launch in just the last 12 days. Earlier this week. North Korea fired an intermediate-range missile over Japan prompting joint missile drills from South Korea and the U.S.
North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan this week. This was the first time in five years that North Korea has flown a missile over Japan. Many people in the north of Japan were ordered to take shelter.
Derek Grossman teaches Political Science and International Relations at USC. He says this week’s missile launch by North Korea.. over Japan.. was not unique!..
Grossman : “North Korea, unfortunately, has launched missiles over Japan now seven times. The first was in 1998. The one before this was in 2017. And in 2017, tensions between the U.S./South Korea/Japan and North Korea got really, really heated. And North Korea actually did its nuclear test in 2017. And, of course, now we’re worried it’s going to do its seventh nuclear test in a matter of weeks. And so it seems like recent history is repeating itself.”
Professor Grossman thinks Kim Jong-un. The Supreme Leader of North Korea.. might be acting partly for petty reasons.
Grossman: “I think that I top at the top of Kim Jong Un’s mind has got to be, you know, keeping attention, keeping focus, international focus on North Korea. And what we see now after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a lot of the focus has shifted.”
He recalls Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s trip last August.. not to Kim Jong-un’s country but to Taiwan.
Grossman: “There was a lot of focus on that hot spot in Asia, a lot less so on North Korea. And the problem for North Korea is when we’re not focusing on North Korea, then the possibility of sanctions relief diminishes greatly. Right. And so what Kim wants is sanctions relief and to keep his nuclear arsenal. And we’re saying you can’t have both.”
We’re saying that but is Kim listening? He is unpredictable. Will there be more missiles and history as Professor Grossman says: Will repeat itself over and over again?