This content was originally published by Radio Free Asia, and it is now licensed for reprint.
Thursday’s record-long ICBM check indicated that Pyongyang’s missile system is being helped along by its closer ties to Russia, North Korea spectators in the United States told Radio Free Asia.
Pyongyang fired what it called a fresh intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, which flew at an altitude of 7, 000 km (4, 300 yards ) for about 87 days, the longest-ever journey of a North Korean ICBM, and landed in waters off west Japan, the South Korean and Japanese forces said.
It was the first ICBM test since December, and the seventh in as many years.
” North Korea is getting ever more dangerous missile technology thanks to its new alliance with Russia, and I think yesterday’s test goes a long way to proving that”, Harry Kazianis, of the Washington-based Center for the National Interest thinktank, told RFA Korean.
According to Kazianis, it appeared as though Pyongyang was gaining from Moscow billions of dollars in economic aid, missile technology, or even nuclear weapons technology.
He claimed that it appeared that neither Seoul nor Washington could significantly lessen the threat posed by the Russia-North Korea alliance.
There is little that can be done, according to Kazianis, adding that Russia’s interest in North Korea would decline if the conflict in Ukraine were to end.” With Russia now supporting the Kim]Jong Un] family and China looking the other way when it comes to sanctions,” Kazianis said.
Kim Jong Un’s missile will become more powerful as the conflict in Ukraine grows, he said.
North Korea’s latest violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at halting its development of nuclear weapons and its missile-carrying around the world was condemned by South Korea, Japan, and the United States.
ICBM test timeline
North Korea tested an ICBM for the first time in July 2017. It would test two more that year, including one in November that traveled for 50 minutes and reached an altitude of 4, 500 kilometers (2, 800 miles ).
Pyongyang would not test any more ICBMs over the next five years, but in March 2022 it launched yet another ICBM that blew up shortly after takeoff.
North Korea tested four more ICBMs in 2022 and 2023, and Thursday’s test was the first of 2024.
The launch came less than a week before the U. S. presidential election.
But regardless of who wins the election, Washington’s North Korea strategy will not be heavily influenced by missile tests, David Maxwell, vice president of the Washington-based Center for Asia Pacific Strategy, told RFA.
” It is doubtful that either Harris or Trump will be influenced to change policy in a way that will benefit] North Korean leader ] Kim]Jong Un]”, said Maxwell. Does Kim, however, believe that Trump would be more effective? I think he would be mistaken and disappointed. I do n’t think he or Harris will make the concessions he wants.
According to Maxwell, South Korea and the United States should acknowledge and defend Kim’s political warfare tactics and attempts to scuttle them.
