Biden may make mistakes with North Korea 3
`President Joe Biden only chose the option of dialogue with North Korea. That is his policy in 2021. He did not even impose any sanctions targeting Pyongyang’s nuclear missile program.
Ruggiero’s statement came after North Korea conducted four consecutive missile tests this month, including two hypersonic missile launches on January 5 and 11, and a ballistic missile launched from a train on January 14.
`It turned out to be a mistake. I’m sure there will be more missile tests, because we are only halfway through January,` Ruggiero added.
The missile left the launch pad on a train in North Korea on September 15.
In 2021, North Korea conducted a series of modern missile launches, but the Biden administration did not have a strong response.
The US Treasury Department last week announced an embargo targeting six North Korean citizens in Russia and China, along with a Russian and a Russian company suspected by Washington of being responsible for procuring equipment for weapons programs.
The US Treasury Department added that the embargo was issued after six ballistic missile tests conducted by North Korea since September 2021, accusing this action of violating United Nations Security Council resolutions.
`Now the Biden administration is saying ‘that’s not something North Korea can do at will’. This is a good start, but they need to do more,` Ruggiero assessed, adding that US administrations in the process
Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in South Korea, said that the US and its allies need to propose humanitarian assistance to North Korea once the country is ready to return to the dialogue table, but called for no withdrawal.
`North Korea is trying to trap the Biden administration. They promote missile tests and respond to pressure from the US with further aggressive actions, seeking concessions,` he commented.
Easley believes that Pyongyang will likely continue to launch missiles in January, but it will be difficult to continue to escalate further in February, when the 2022 Winter Olympia will take place in China, an ally that has great influence on China.
Over the past two years, Pyongyang has focused on developing a series of missiles aimed at penetrating enemy defense systems, extinguishing any intention to pre-emptively attack North Korea.
North Korea’s missile array makes the US worried
Powerful missile array in North Korea’s arsenal.
This is said to be able to help prevent another confrontation with the US like in 2017, when former president Donald Trump threatened to rain `fire and fury` on North Korea.
North Korea has so far refused President Biden’s negotiation proposal, causing efforts to denuclearize the peninsula to continue to deadlock.
Soo Kim, a policy analyst at the US RAND organization, said that Kim Jong-un seems to want Washington to be aware that Pyongyang’s deterrent ability is not only increasing but also expanding more than ever with foreign countries.
