Kim Jung Un appears determined to flaunt his missile arsenal in the new year 2022. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement on Tuesday that
"North Korea fired what is suspected to be two cruise missiles”
.
Since Jan. 5, Pyongyang has executed no less than five missile tests, which hasn't happened since 2019.
Behind these military tests hides the desire to wake up the United States and bring them back to the negotiating table. Kim Jong-Un realized that amid the instability in West Asia, the northern Korean peninsula was no longer Washington's priority. But he intends to take advantage of these diplomatic tensions which hold the attention of the host of the White House.
The United States cannot afford further provocations on the Asian continent, and Kim Jung-Un has learned that the best way to be considered by an American president is to play with new military equipment.
"By advancing its nuclear capabilities and weapons systems, North Korea is showing the United States and South Korea that the more time passes, the higher the price will be
," said Choi Yong-hwan. an analyst from the Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul.
What better than hypersonic missile tests, which can change trajectory during their flight, therefore more difficult to detect, to show its power? The North Korean leader also said he wants to resume long-range missile testing, mandated by United Nations resolutions. Pyongyang had hitherto been content with short-range missiles. The 2022 tests therefore do not show any real improvement in North Korean armament: the devices had been tested several years ago, or are still at the development stage.
Washington, through the spokesman for the US State Department, Ned Price, has indicated that it is open to dialogue with North Korea.
“We have no hostile intentions,”
he told reporters last Tuesday.
Pyongyang rejected its talks, signaling
"not to be interested in negotiations"
, which had already broken down in 2019 after meetings between Donald Trump and Kim Jung-Un.
But, according to Jenny Town,
“there is no political appetite in the United States to make these moves.
They are not willing to spend political capital on North Korea
. "
The American ambassador to the UN indicated in mid-January that the United States wanted to propose to the Security Council new sanctions against Pyongyang.
These measures have not yet been detailed, but will have to be perfectly calibrated if Washington wishes to override the veto of China and Russia.
These two countries, permanent members of the Security Council, already blocked a draft sanctions against Pyongyang last week.
An economy up against the wall
Beijing seems to be the only real ally of a North Korea in the grip of an economic collapse.
The hermit kingdom, which completely closed its borders in January 2020, has not carried out any trade with the outside world since.
Pyongyang now seems ready to change course: on Sunday January 16, 2022, a freight train crossed the border between China and North Korea for the first time in seventeen months.
The North Korean economy is up against the wall.
Faced with soaring prices of basic necessities, Pyongyang had no choice but to soften its isolation.
Appearances of military triumphs turn out to be crucial for the country's internal politics.
Ahn chan-il, a defector turned researcher, explains that
"missiles and the development of weapons of war are probably the only successes that Kim Jong Un can boast of"
.
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