The Missile Arms Race on the Korean Peninsula Heats Up

Eric GomezIt has been a very busy week for missile tests on the Korean peninsula. North Korea testeda new type of ground ‐​launched cruise missile to start the week and launchedtwo short ‐​range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) a couple days later. South Korea tested a newconventional submarine ‐​launched ballistic missile only a few hours after North Korea ’s SRBM test. South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense also released video footage of several new missile systems, including a supersonic anti ‐​ship cruise missile, anair ‐​launched land attack cruise missile, and a ballistic missile witha heavy warhead capable of destroying bunkers and other hardened targets.This recent flurry of testing activity is the latest chapter in a missile arms race between North and South Korea that shows little sign of abating. The inter ‐​Korean missile arms race could make any future inter‐​Korean crises more dangerous and prone to escalation.In the summer and autumn of 2017, North Korea successfully tested intercontinental ‐​range ballistic missiles capable of hitting the United States. Pyongyang pulled back on missile testing in 2018 to give diplomacy a chance, but after the failure of the Hanoi summit in early 2019 it returned to missile testing.With one notable exception, all the new North Korean missile systems tested since the Hanoi summit are shorter range and primarily threaten South Korea and Japan. An ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs