Excerpt
North Korea ICBM test a game changer
July 5, 2017. North Korea successfully tested a multi-stage ICBM that many experts believe has the range to hit Alaska and perhaps even major population centers on the west coast of the US.
The missile, Hwasong-14, flew 580 miles reaching an altitude of 1,741 miles in its 39 minutes of flight. The flight profile suggested the missile had a range of about 5,000 miles and perhaps as much as 7,100 miles.
Alarm bells went off all over the world when the test became public. The planet's most paranoid, unstable regime is now in possession of a weapon that, once the technological hurdles of marrying a nuclear warhead to the missile are overcome, threatens tens of millions of lives.
Without exaggeration, the test is a game changer.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is impervious to the kinds of pressures that the world would normally place on a rogue nation. The North is already sanctioned to the hilt - the US and South Korea have no more cards to play in that game. Better enforcement of existing sanctions, including penalizing countries that allow North Korean citizens to work in their countries, would hardly cause a ripple.
Nothing, it seems, will deter the North from developing their nuclear program. And that includes pressure by China.
The U.N. Security Council, currently chaired by China, will hold an emergency meeting on the matter at 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) on Wednesday, following a request by the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Diplomats say Beijing has not been fully enforcing existing international sanctions on its neighbor, and has resisted tougher measures, such as an oil embargo, bans on the North Korean airline and guest workers, and measures against Chinese banks and other firms doing business with the North.
All the views expressed at the source of this article may not necessarily reflect those of T.E.A. Watchers.
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