What is Kim Jong-un up to nowadays?
Although there have been times of tension with North Korea in the past, the current state of affairs on the Korean peninsula is the most unstable in the past five years, and it appears that things will only grow worse.
A provocative and hostile act, the North’s firing of a missile over Japan over the past month has forced civilians to seek cover. It has fired hundreds of artillery shells into the sea that have landed in a military buffer zone established by the two Koreas in 2018 to maintain peace, launched a number of additional ballistic missiles, flown warplanes close to its border with South Korea, and engaged in other military manoeuvres. Technically, the two nations are still at war.
Both sides exchanged warning shots on Monday after a North Korean merchant ship crossed the maritime border between the two countries. The invasion was intentional, according to South Korea.
What then is Kim Jong-un doing? North Korea typically launches missiles for three reasons: to test and advance its weaponry, to convey a political message to the world (mainly the US), and to astound its domestic population and maintain support for the regime.
It can be challenging to determine which of these goals Pyongyang is attempting to achieve, but Mr. Kim has been clear this time. The recent launches and exercises, according to many reports in the state media, are in retaliation for military drills being conducted by the US, South Korea, and Japan. According to the North, its launches constitute a loud signal to its adversaries that they should stop raising tensions.
For the past two months, Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo have conducted large-scale military drills both individually and jointly to demonstrate their readiness for a North Korean nuclear attack. These have undoubtedly enraged Mr. Kim, who has long seen such exercises as his adversaries practising an invasion. To prevent itself from being attacked, North Korea initially began working on nuclear weapons.
There is, however, a less obvious reason he might be applying more pressure right now. Some suspect that this test could be setting the stage for a more provocative one, such as the first nuclear weapon explosion in five years or perhaps a little assault on South Korea.
He outlined his five-year plan last year, including all the new weaponry he intended to create. It included the short-range missiles needed to transport smaller nuclear battlefield bombs.
The most recent tests show Mr. Kim is not just checking off his wish list of weapons, but also preparing his troops to employ them. He claimed that he used some of the most recent drills to mimic a nuclear assault on South Korea.
Mr. Kim needs help right now. If he hopes to one day have severe international sanctions against his country lifted, he needs the world to take notice of the advancements he has accomplished. Although sanctions are harming North Korea’s economy, they haven’t prevented the country from producing weapons as intended.
North Korea is falling down the world agenda as a result of the ongoing stagnation of talks aimed at lifting those restrictions. The conflict in Ukraine and China’s emergence as an autocratic nation are of considerably greater concern to the globe.
According to President Biden, sanctions against North Korea may only be loosened if the country consents to give up all of its nuclear weapons.
Washington and Seoul have decided to step up their defence of the Korean Peninsula in the interim by conducting the military drills Pyongyang despises so much and retaliating violently to its provocations.
South Korea sent up aeroplanes and fired its own artillery in response to the North’s most recent missile launches and military exercises.
Mr. Kim must demonstrate how dangerous his country has become if he wants the US to negotiate on his behalf. He declared North Korea to be a nuclear-armed state last month, saying that this was a position that could not be changed.
What is Kim Jong-un up to nowadays?
The administrations of the US and South Korea are of the opinion that North Korea has finished making preparations for its seventh nuclear test and is simply awaiting the right political circumstance in which to conduct it. With the conclusion of the Chinese Communist Party Conference and the impending US midterm elections, a promising window is now emerging.
Another round of war drills is currently taking place in South Korea, and the US is expected to participate. These might provide Kim Jong-un the justification he’s been looking for.
