By Clint Richards
North Korea has taken to launching missiles in defiance of its recent isolation.
As regional meetings (particularly China’s) continue to show the isolation of North Korea’s new leader Kim Jong-un, the country has resorted to its preferred response: missile launches. While these launches are typically good at drawing regional attention in the hopes of bringing Pyongyang to the negotiating table in return for a cessation of hostility, the launches over the past two weeks have done little to alter the course of events and negotiations in the region. China in particular, as North Korea’s only ally, has made a point of not addressing the provocations. Even as North Korea makes incremental progress with Japan over its abductees, China’s continued silence further highlights Pyongyang’s isolation.
On Wednesday, North Korea fired what are suspected to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan from its province of Hwanghae. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Um Hoy-Sik said the Scud-type missiles were fired at 4:00AM and 4:20AM, while another JCS officer said “The North appears to be issuing a threat that it can fire missiles anywhere and at any time,” according to the Korea Times. While this is the fourth missile test by Pyongyang in just two weeks, it is the first time in almost twenty years that it has fired them from its territory on the inland sea, instead of from its east coast.
Read the full story at The Diplomat