Belligerence as strategy: Pyongyang and its provocations

North Korea has been under United Nations sanctions since 2006 because of its multiple nuclear tests and missile launches.

“This enables them to obtain access to foreign ports in the region and beyond as well as maritime insurance, a prerequisite for operation”, it said. “We’re beginning the consultations now in the coming days with the South Koreans and we expect that this will move in an expeditious fashion”, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said at a briefing. America says that THAAD will only be focused on the threat from North Korea, but the Chinese fear that, if integrated with systems operated by Japan and America, it would undercut the effectiveness of its own missile forces.

The satellite North Korea launched into space earlier this week has achieved orbit, but whether it is operating normally has not been verified, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

North Korea’s resistance to Beijing’s influence might seem unusual, given North Korea huge economic and military dependence on China.

This is the second time North Korea has defied global law recently, having allegedly conducted a hydrogen bomb test in January. The letters on the screen read: ” North Korea launched a long-range missile”.

Recovered debris pieces were being analyzed, South Korea said.

After the test, the US and South Korea announced they had begun formal discussions about the possibility of deploying an advanced missile defence system to which China has objected, arguing it could undermine its strategic deterrent.

Condemning the launch, members of the UN Security Council called it as ‘a clear threat to global peace and security continues to exist, especially in the context of the nuclear test’.

Japan, long concerned about North Korea’s ballistic missile program, has previously said it was considering THAAD to beef up its defenses.

TED POSTOL: I think the technology that they’re utilizing in this rocket could be used in a different rocket to build a rocket that is capable of actually carrying what is sometimes referred to as a first-generation nuclear weapon to the mainland of the United States.

The Kwangmyongsong may enable Pyongyang to hit the eastern part of the United States with its long-range missiles.

The deployment of THAAD is not the solution to the predicament on the Korean Peninsula, but honest talks and well-intended negotiations are a step in the right direction. “This is an alliance decision that we’re making with South Korea and we’re doing this in response to what the North Koreans have done, and that’s how it should be viewed”.

The defense ministry in Seoul said the North Korean vessel crossed the Yellow Sea border just before 7:00am (2300 GMT Sunday).

However, North Korea this time is believed to have had the first stage of Sunday’s rocket blow up into around 270 pieces to cover up its technical footprint, he said.