North Korean missile test: What does Kim Jong Un desire?
Written byTimes Magazine
So far, the new wave of North Korean missile tests has been met with a slight shrug here in Tokyo.
Everything is very different from August 2017, when the sound of air-raid sirens awakened Japan. Then, without warning, North Korea fired an ICBM over the Japan summit in the Pacific. It was a bold move.
This time, the North Korean missile was short-range and landed in the sea quite a distance from the Japanese coast. Kim Jong Un seems to be holding back for now. However, this could change if he did not achieve the desired result.
So what does Kim Jong Un want?
Talk to military analysts, and they will tell you that the recent launches show that North Korea is making rapid progress toward a complete and effective nuclear deterrent. "From my point of view, it's predictable," said Professor Kim Dong Yupp, a former South Korean naval commander.
"We are shocked that we underestimate North Korean technology and perceive it as suffering at this time. North Korea is developing its military capabilities faster than we thought."
After testing January 5 and January 10, Pyongyang said it had successfully tested what it called a "hypersonic glide vehicle" (HGV) and a "propelled reentry vehicle" (MARV).
Because it means North Korea is developing technology that can defeat the expensive and sophisticated missile defense systems that America and Japan have in the region.
"It seems transparent that their goal is to develop weapons that can evade and complicate missile defenses, that are highly maneuverable and more difficult for the United States to overtake, let alone detect," said Duyon Kim of the Center for a New American. Century.
Professor Kim Dong Yupp agrees: "Ultimately, North Korea wants to weaken the enemy's missile defense system. "They want a deterrent system that's like a scorpion's tail." Scorpions use the stinger in their tail to defend themselves and attack and kill their prey. And what about North Korea?
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