North Korean Missile Testing

North Korea has done some damage to its reputation with its singular ally, China and even more damage with its ‘sometimes’ enemy, the United States. What is motivating North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un to act this way? Perhaps it is history. North Korea has a history of attempting to show its might time and time again.

From the three-year long Korean War that began in 1950 to the current missile testing in the sea off Japan, there is something going awry in the country to cause such an increase in worrisome behavior. This essay will highlight the background of North Korean conflicts and the current problems with North Korea’s decision to continue missile tests against the wishes of China and the United States. To begin understanding North Korea’s erratic behavior regarding recent missile tests, one must look at the Korean War.

Every schoolchild in North Korea is taught, mistakenly, that the US was the cause of the Korean war.

“…but they also learn, correctly, that their nemesis was responsible for laying waste to dozens of towns and cities from the air during the 1950-53 conflict, a fact rarely reported in the US media at the time.” (McCurry) While the United States was not the cause of the Korean War, their intervention certainly led to deaths and destruction within the country that created decades-long tensions between North Korea and the United States. Such actions could plant the seeds of war for the future.

Those seeds were planted by Kim Jong Un’s father and now he has begun the same process. Kim Jong Un and the leaders before him tested missiles. They did so to test their capabilities and progress their military strength. However, such actions led to condemnation of such behavior and mounting tensions with other countries abroad. “In 2013, North Korea said it and South Korea were in a “state of war” following international condemnation of its nuclear test.

Three years later, it said US sanctions targeting Kim Jong-un and other senior officials were tantamount to a declaration of war.” (McCurry) The additional sanctions brought on by the testing has placed North Korea in a precarious situation. If they are not doing economically well because of added sanctions, could this be an attempt to gain power in a powerless situation? It might be. North Korea recently developed a new missile that has a bigger warhead that may have the capacity to travel to the United States.

The missile North Korea made is called the Hwasong-15. “…the Hwasong-15. North Korea said it carried a “super-large heavy warhead which is capable of striking the whole mainland of the U.S.” (Sang-Hun) If this kind of warhead has the capability of hitting mainland United States, this could be Kim Jong Un’s desired bargaining chip that could help him, and his country gain some leverage against their enemy, the United States.

The warhead is large enough and theoretically can travel far enough to be considered a legitimate threat to mainland Americans should North Korean officials decide to launch it and aim for the United States. Another hint that North Korea may be serious in launching an attack on the U.S. is the increase of missile launching vehicles that make it hard for America and America’s allies to check for imminent missile attacks.

“South Korean defense officials say North Korea runs more than 160 mobile missile launching vehicles and is building more. Such vehicles make it easier to hide and transport missiles and harder for the United States and its allies to track signs of imminent missile attacks.” (Sang-Hun) Such actions make it loud and clear there is intention to launch missiles and the need then arises to understand what can be done to avoid the escalation of the situation.

Going back to the Korean War, the fact that not much is said about it shows the need to go back and understand the origins of the war and how it affected both North and South Korea. “The Korean War, more than any other war in modern times is surrounded by residues and slippages of memory.

The Great War’s place is indelible, its annihilating violence a permanent reminder war’s carnage.” (Cumings 62) If the United States had such an impactful effect on North Korea due to the destruction, perhaps this is where the United States can try to improve relations with North Korea. North Korea has been known to suffer from food shortages.

Within the country if there is a failing economy, diplomatic relations and diplomatic strategies should then be focused on improving the economic situation of North Koreans to see if progress can be made in stopping missile testing. Furthermore, Americans should get to know why North Korea views the United States in such a negative light.

“The American ‘perfect tense’ leads with a complete automaticity towards the dogma that the Korean War was started in 1950 by Stalin and Kim II Sung, it ended in 1953, and its sobriquet ever since has been ‘the forgotten war’.” (Cumings 64) When countries learn to understand their enemies, commonality forms and allows for a better collaboration between parties. However, under the Trump presidency, it does not seem like this kind of option is likely.

The Trump presidency has been marred with diplomatic errors with countries like North Korea seeing things that Trump say as a declaration of war. There needs to be someone who understands the crisis in North Korea to truly make some headway in diplomatic relations. That person is not President Trump. Missiles after all, are what North Korean leaders have believed are needed to best the military might of the United States. North Korea’s isolated dictators have long believed that nuclear weapons will ensure regime survival against U.S.

military power, enabling it to unite the Korean Peninsula on its terms. Successive U.S. Administrations have tried various strategies to thwart the dangerous trajectory of the regime. Some have made progress, only to be set back by North Korean perfidy, by changes in policy direction and by cautious partners and allies in the region who wanted a different approach. It is now known that most of this time Pyongyang was working to preserve as well as expand its nuclear program.

North Korea is under the process of perfecting several nuclear weapons and ways to deliver them to intended targets. The North Korea challenge then has become one of the most dangerous issues the Trump presidency faces. In the past the U.S. attempted diplomatic inducements. These included food aid, economic and confidence-building steps, normalization of relations and security guarantees. Nothing seemed to produce any long-term results. With those efforts proving null, the U.S.

and its allies than attempted to pursue “freezes.” Although North Korea agreed to various freezes regarding their nuclear-weapons program they managed to find ways to violate the freezes. When North Korea was caught violating the deals, they refused international verification and monitoring further putting strain between them and the United States. U.S. Administrations forced sanctions, especially through the Trump Administration but have faced a reluctant North Korea ally, China, to enforce them along with a subpar international response.

This had made for a situation where few answers are available unless real collaboration and communication takes place between North Korea, China, and the United States. There was some progress made in the past during the Clinton Administration. They managed to negotiate a plan to stop North Korea’s program. (Harrison) It demonstrated some success but ultimately was unsustainable. The current administration considers military action like some Administrations before them, but have pulled back, evaluating the risk of catastrophic war and the costs related to it.

Additionally, with China being North Korea’s only ally and a powerful one, the United States is not interested in creating tension with a country like China that can compete with them in the global market. The main reason North Korea has gotten this far and with little repercussions for their actions is because of their desire to walk away from every denuclearization agreement ever made and reached. The country’s only option they feel, is to continue their nuclear weapons program regardless of consequences.

In conclusion, North Korea has some bad history with the United States. From North Korean schools teaching that the United States started.