TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
North Korea’s belligerence stirs up new fears
North Korea's recent spate of weapons testing has reignited fears of a major crisis on the Korean Peninsula, but it has also shone some light on the relatively limited options that both Washington and Beijing have in responding to Pyongyang.
Change Size
undefined (AFP/Anthony Wallace)
T
he Korean Peninsula has suddenly attracted the global spotlight in the last two weeks, with the unabating string of missile flight tests launched by Pyongyang ahead of the ruling party’s founding day celebrations.
On Oct. 4, North Korea carried out its longest-range missile test yet, catapulting a projectile over Japan and triggering warning sirens in the northern parts of South Korea. The last time Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan was in 2017, around a week before it also tested its hydrogen bomb.
It did not stop there. On Oct. 6, Pyongyang launched two more short-range missiles in what it claimed to be a show of protest against the just-concluded joint military drills between the United States and South Korea. On Oct. 9, it again launched two more missile flight tests over Japanese territory.
Now, regional and international media are speculating that North Korea is planning to go ahead with its seventh nuclear test in the coming days.
It is thought that two imminent events are the main factors behind the recent belligerence of Pyongyang.
First, the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is preparing to hold its five-yearly congress on Oct. 16, when Xi Jinping is expected to be appointed to an unprecedented third term. The second is the midterm elections in the US on Nov. 7. History has shown that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made it a habit of exploiting such landmark events to further his agenda.
When North Korea conducted its last nuclear test on Sept. 3, 2017, President Xi was in the final stage of his preparations to host the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa at a summit, which was meant to project his image as a global statesperson ahead of a critical CCP congress.
