North Korea test fires short-range projectiles, South Korean officials say
North Korea test fired several short-range projectiles Saturday morning from the country's eastern coast, according to South Korean officials.
The projectiles flew 70 to 200 kilometers (43 to 125 miles) before crashing into the sea, officials said, adding that both South Korean and US authorities were analyzing the details to glean further insights. The launch took place around at 9:06 a.m. (8:06 p.m. ET Friday).
If confirmed, the test is understood to be the first missile launch from North Korea since late 2017 -- and the first since US President Donald Trump began meeting the country's leader Kim Jong Un.
The move could escalate tensions with the United States, coming two months after Trump walked away from a second summit between the two leaders.
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I'll begin to think there is no real diplomatic solution to this conflict.
The previous policy of sanctions and isolation didn't really work either. While bringing more suffering to the people of North Korea, it did strengthen the regime and actually gave them more opportunities to pursue their weapons program. And the military intervention is pretty much off the table both due to geopolitical factors (no way China would stand for this), as well as the cost.
Back in 1994 Clinton did briefly consider a military action, but changed his mind when presented with military estimates. He'd been told that while in the end the U.S. would surely be victorious, its military casualties would easily exceed one hundred thousands (something the public opinion would find very hard to swallow), in addition to millions of South Korean deaths. Not to mention financial costs. And this was when the North still had no nuclear capabilities and was actually completely isolated on the world stage. Now the North can be sustained by China, Russia and, yes, South Korea, which doesn't want to deal with a massive clusterf--k if the North collapses.
North Korea is never going to denuclearize, because it's all about the survival of the regime, especially after what happened in Libya (Qaddafi abandoning his program in exchange for new relations with the west, which then helped to overthrew him) and Ukraine (giving up their nukes in exchange for a useless Budapest Memorandum). Honestly, the world should come to accept this, just like they did with Pakistan and India.
In many instances beginning new relations proved to be more effective to weakening a regime and bringing on changes than isolation. Fidel was extremely skeptical about the Cuban-American thaw for that very reason.
