NK seeks to gain bargaining power with US

By Kim Hyo-jin

North Korea’s continuous ballistic missile tests show the reclusive country’s determination to improve its nuclear capability, analysts said Friday.

The Kim Jong-un regime thinks of it as the only leverage in possible negotiations in the future amid heightened sanctions by the international community, they said.

The North fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over Japanese territory into the Pacific Ocean earlier in the day, less than two weeks after it claimed “complete success” in a test of a hydrogen bomb for an intercontinental ballistic missile, Sept. 3.

It was the 10th missile test since the Moon Jae-in administration was launched in May.

Experts view the latest provocation as Pyongyang’s intent to boast the capability of carrying a nuclear warhead. The missile travelled 3,700 kilometers, putting the U.S. territory of Guam within reach.

“Since the fourth nuclear test, stricter sanctions against the North have continued. It is clear that Pyongyang feels pressure from them, so is rushing to turn the tables,” said Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong Global University.

North Korea is occupying itself with showing off the capability to attack the U.S. territory with a nuclear-warhead missile, knowing that it will give the country an advantage in negotiations with the U.S.

“The range of the IRBM reached some 3,700 kilometers this time that could reach the U.S. Air Force base on Guam. The regime is scrambling to position itself favorably in bilateral talks with Washington,” said Nam Sung-wook, a unification and diplomacy professor at Korea University.

The continued missile provocations also intend to push the U.S. to prioritize dealing with the North Korea issue on its policy agenda, he added.

The missile launch came three days after the United Nations Security Council adopted tougher sanctions against the North, curtailing gas and oil imports and textile exports.

Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, stressed the provocation was a “direct response” to the international move, saying it has been a pattern of the reclusive country.

But Kim Dong-yub, a professor of Kyungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, underlined that the North’s act should be interpreted from the long-term perspective.

“The provocation following the UNSC resolution could be a mere pretext in its fast-moving process of nuclear and missile development,” he said. “The country is only taking steps in accordance with its own roadmap for a full nuclear arsenal.”

The Kim regime had offered various suggestions for negotiations with the U.S., but to no avail. Afterward, it turned to commit itself to complete nuclear armament, the scholars say, in a bid to secure a favorable position in negotiations.

The North proposed high-level talks with the U.S. through a statement by its National Defense Commission in June 2013. Stating that denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula was an instruction from Kim's predecessor, it suggested discussing easing military tension, shifting from an armistice to a peace treaty, and building a non-nuclear world.

In January 2015, it also delivered the position that it can suspend nuclear tests on the condition that the U.S. and South Korea suspend their joint military exercises. But the both countries rejected the offer, saying denuclearization should come first.

In response, Pyongyang announced “there is no intention to sit with the U.S. at a negotiating table” in a statement in February that year.