Opinion | The cold, calculated logic behind North Korea’s missile tests
Kim Jong-un’s aim is to drive a wedge between the US and its allies and to question whether the superpower can provide security in the region, writes Ankit Panda
North Korea did it again. Within two weeks of a test of what it claimed to be hydrogen bomb – an act that earned its second round of United Nations sanctions in just two months – it launched another intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan.
Compared to its first overflight in August, the missile flew higher and longer. In fact, it was North Korea’s most impressive missile flight demonstration, certainly in terms of range. It flew 3,700km, just enough to strike the US territory of Guam.
North Korea overflew Japan in 1998, 2009, 2012 and 2016 with rockets meant to deliver satellites into orbit. But its two launches this year on August 29 and September 15 are a new kind of provocation. These missiles are designed to deliver nuclear warheads to military targets in East Asia and the Pacific.
Notably, North Korea envisages using these weapons to strike the US territory of Guam early in a war. Its state propaganda regularly bemoans the presence of the US Pacific Command’s strategic bomber fleet on the island at Andersen Air Force Base.
While North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile tests may appear to be brazen provocations from an unstable and irascible leader, nothing could be further from the truth. Kim Jong-un’s actions, while provocative, are both rational and win him and his scientists important technical insights and improve the credibility of North Korea’s strategic deterrent.