When Kim Jong Un gave the order for what North Korea claims to be its first successful intercontinental ballistic missile test, he knew it would ruffle feathers in Washington and Beijing.
When Kim Jong Un gave the order for what North Korea claims to be its first successful intercontinental ballistic missile test, he knew it would ruffle feathers in Washington and Beijing.
He may have even timed the launch of the missile, which Pyongyang dubbed the Hwasong-14, for maximum effect, ahead of the July 4 holiday in the U. S. and to throw a wrench into a planned meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Germany this week.
Whatever his motivations, Tuesday’s test — which follows a volley of other missile launches in recent months — shows Kim is not being slowed by international sanctions, Trump’s threats against him, or pressure from China. If anything he’s accelerating his efforts to acquire a bigger nuclear deterrent, with the ultimate prize a missile that can carry a nuclear-tipped warhead to the U. S. mainland.
That shows how difficult it will be to rein him in as he exploits differences between the world’s two biggest economies on how to handle the regime. Trump says China hasn’ t done enough to keep Kim on the leash, while Beijing’s ambassador to the United Nations warned this week the “consequences would be disastrous” if Washington and Pyongyang fail to resume talks.
“The launch’s significance lies in prolonging the game, but not changing the game, ” said Yang Xiyu, a former Chinese negotiator in six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program. “We now know North Korea has entered a marathon-like confrontation with the international community, ” said Yang, a senior researcher at the China Institute of International Studies. “Previously it was a middle-distance race.”
Read more: North Korea’s claims of its first successful ICBM launch
Trump turned to Twitter after news of the launch, before North Korea’s claim the missile was an ICBM. He wrote: “Perhaps China will put a heavy move on North Korea and end this nonsense once and for all!” In response, China Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Beijing had been “indispensable” in pressuring Kim.
