President Joe Biden’s weakness in tackling global conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East has emboldened North Korea and Kim Jong-Un. The communist dictator appears to have moved away from using nuclear weapons as bargaining chips for international aid and instead intends to use them for both deterrence – and worryingly – potential regional aggression.
In 2021, North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-Un stepped up long-range ballistic missile tests — along with rolling out a range of new weapons meant for use in a regional war with South Korea and Japan. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has become a testing ground for some of North Korea’s newest weapons developments. The East-Asian communist state has sent 6,700 containers of munitions to Russia for use in Ukraine.
After former President Donald Trump engaged Kim Jong-Un, the communist state suspended long-range ballistic missile tests starting in 2018. Those tests resumed less than a year into Bidne’s presidency. In 2022, North Korea tested its largest long-range ballistic missile yet. “This miraculous victory is a priceless victory,” Kim Jong-Un said at the time. Unlike previous tests five years earlier, neither China nor Russia condemned North Korea’s missile launch.
In January, the North Korean dictator announced he was abandoning peace discussions and possible reunification with South Korea. Now, the North Korean military is signaling it intends to take a more aggressive and combative stance in both East Asia and against U.S. interests in the region.
“What worries me the most is they’ve continued to increase the size and sophistication of their nuclear arsenal and delivery means,” said Siegfried S. Hecker, a former weapons inspector who has visited North Korean nuclear facilities, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. Estimates now place the North Korean nuclear arsenal as high as 50 to 60 warheads.
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