The North Korea nightmare

Why tensions with the hermit kingdom are only going to get worse

Soldiers march.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)

When it comes to North Korea and this weekend's holiday theatricsmilitary parades featuring Pyongyang's latest missiles and technological terrors, along with a failed missile test — there is only one thing that is clear: Tensions on the Korean peninsula are only going to get worse.

Military necessity — at least in North Korea's eyes — and not saber rattling are clearly the culprit. Kim Jong Un — the leader of a nation that has an economy smaller than Ethiopia — knows all too well he has no way to match the United States, South Korea, and Japan ship for ship, plane for plane in a symmetrical sense. The only way he can hope to deter his enemies is to build the ultimate game-changer: nuclear weapons paired with missiles that can strike all the way across the globe. But to do that he must test his nuclear weapons and missiles time and time again to make sure he has a viable deterrent. And that is a problem. Every time Kim tests a new weapons system — or decides to parade them down the street — the world goes into a panic.

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Harry J. Kazianis

Harry J. Kazianis is director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest, founded by former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon.