US-North Korea Crisis Burgeoning, World Condemns Kim Jong Un’s 4th of July Missile Tests

The missile tests held by North Korea have drawn worldwide condemnation. It was an urgent issue in the halls of the G20 Summit held in Hamburg, Germany, but was not openly talked about in the summit. North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un dubbed the country’s first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test “a gift” to the U.S. He had his test missiles flown on July 4 as a loud warning signal during the Fourth of July celebration in America.

The prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, expressed his disappointment for not condemning North Korea over its July 4 ballistic missile tests at the summit. The leaders at the G20 Summit countered Turnbull’s sentiments, saying that the assumption of not condemning the action is unfounded. There is condemnation in the G20 mostly economic forum but was not openly addressed in the assembly.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce suggested that military action against North Korea should be made as an option and asked China to do more to deter North Korea’s actions. The standoff between Kim Jong Un and the United States could lead to World War III, which would result in all of the economic strategies the leaders had planned systematically shutting down, reports the Guardian.

The escalating threat to the United States and the world lies in the understanding of a rogue North Korean leader whose people follow him in blind obedience. Kim Jong Un is the most difficult intelligence target to acquire. The ICBM tests held last July 4 by the nation displays its capability to hit the state of Alaska, according to the Atlantic. The scenario of a nuclear strike on the northernmost state of the U.S. alarmed the National Security Council of the possibility of the catastrophe.

According to a North Korean lieutenant colonel who defected from the rogue nation, Kim Jong Un has the capacity to produce nuclear-tipped warheads en masse and has the capability to strike military facilities in the U.S., Japan, and South Korea. The bargaining chips are high when North Korea has the volume of missiles in its arsenal. These nukes are present to repel the U.S. threat of invasion and nuclear strike. Striking first is in the order of battle of North Korea; causing heavy damage and casualties first will deter allied forces from invading the rogue nation, adds the defector.

Sabotage and assassination of North Korean leaders are options of the U.S. and its allies. Missile test failures were assumed to be products of sabotage, but the attempts to assassinate major leaders of the North Korean nation were not successful.

South Korea once attempted to send an elite force to invade and capture the commanders of their enemy. Twenty-four commandos were recruited from the 209th Detachment to be trained in the planned infiltration and assassination of then-North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. The mission is in retaliation for a botched attempt by the North Korean leadership in 1968 to murder South Korean leader Park Chung-hee, reports Business Insider.

The commandos were exposed to the harshest conditions, abuse, and neglect by their training officers to harden them up in preparation for the assassination task. Six of the commandos were executed for insubordination and one drowned during the training, but the remaining commando assassins did not make it to their assigned mission.

In 1971, the South Korean president stopped the vengeful mission. However, the commandos did not. They mutinied and killed 17 of their camp guards. They escaped from their camp, hijacked a bus, and headed to Seoul, where they fought their doomed cause against the state police to the end.

In today’s ICBM missile crisis, the prospect of such a mission brought the assassination plot back. South Korea abandoned the assassination plot 46 years ago but now considers to go ahead with the plan in the event of a world war. The Kims are still at the helm of power but more powerful this time.

North Korea appeared to use China truck in its first claimed ICBM test https://t.co/YkANCDWZ62 pic.twitter.com/K5QV3CTKbT

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 4, 2017

At this point, Beijing and Moscow have issued a joint statement for North Korea to stop their nuclear program and for South Korea to halt their military drills and maneuvers in the area.

China and Russia are now enjoying economic benefits with their blooming relationship and are actively supporting each other in their strategic endeavors. The Hill reports that other nations are skeptical of the joint statement from both countries regarding the missile crisis and the threat of World War III, saying that the partnership and position make it difficult for Washington to rein in North Korea’s nuclear program.

Russia and China’s interest partly has to do with geography and trade in the region. However, the duo’s main concern is to diminish American influence in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of doing business there.

Tensions are still up in the Korean Peninsula after the ICBM tests and the alliance of South Korea, U.S., Japan, Russia, and China should stand firm in dealing with North Korea, says a former senior Asia director at the National Security Council under the Obama administration. Failure of these major countries to remain intact means that Kim Jong Un will continue what he is doing.

[Featured Image by Keith Tarrier/Shutterstock]