They serve the purpose of deterring and repelling the aggression and attack of the enemy against the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] and dealing deadly retaliatory blows at the strongholds of aggression until the world is denuclearized. [...] In 2017, Kim Jong-un observed a missile firing exercise practicing the war plan “to strike the bases of the US imperialist aggressor forces in Japan.”46 The government’s statement was accompanied by a map show- ing that the missiles were fired to the range of the U. [...] North Korean official media declared that the cruise missile flew on a figure-eight pattern to a range of 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) and is a “strategic weapon”—usually a reference to being nuclear-capable.49 The missile has the range to threaten Japan and would augment North Korea’s ballistic missile arsenal that is intended to intimidate Tokyo from assisting the United States during a Korean c. [...] Seoul has created a three-part strategy consisting of the Kill Chain detection and preemptive attack system to target North Korean missiles prior to launch; the Korea Air and Missile Defense System; and the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation57 to attack nuclear, missile, and leadership targets after attack or upon detection of signs of imminent North Korean attack. [...] At the Seventh Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea in May 2016, Kim Jong-un declared that North Korea “should not allow the national split to persist any longer but reunify the country in our genera- tion without fail.”62 The regime has pledged repeatedly to achieve the “final victory of the great war for national reunification.”63 What the United States Should Do l Continue diplomatic efforts.
- Pages
- 24
- Published in
- United States of America
