In another act of daredevilry, North Korea has launched a missile on March 22, from an airbase near Wonsan. This is a port city on its east coast, and, the launch is believed to have failed. Defense Ministry of South Korea has said that it seems to have exploded immediately after launch.
New York Times reports that the United States has undertaken a program to apply the brakes on the missile tests of North Korea and, could go in for cyber war. The intention is to target the launch programs and sabotage the efforts but, it is not known whether the latest failure is a result of that strategy.
How to tame North Korea
Activities of North Korea related to its nuclear ambitions has kept the US administrator busy to arrive at a workable solution. In fact, it is now a major national security problem for President Donald Trump. He has sent the US secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson, on a mission to discuss the matter with China, Japan and South Korea because they are the immediate neighbors of North Korea. This exercise is to increase pressure on Pyongyang so that it puts an end to programs associated with nuclear and ballistic missiles.
In order to stress the point, the United States conducted a mock drill using by a nuclear-capable strategic bomber along with warplanes of South Korea.
The bomber took off from an air base in Guam and carried out a mock bombing exercise over the Korean Peninsula. America has, in the past, sent its strategic bombers to demonstrate its commitment towards South Korea, its ally.
The fear factor
Kim Jog Un has already declared his intentions in several ways. The ICBM that his country has developed can accommodate a nuclear payload and, in addition, makes use of solid-fuel technology.
Such fuel can easily be concealed in tunnels so that missile launch can be fast.
South Korea admits that North is sharpening its skills to build more power packed weaponry like rockets and missiles. U.S. secretary of state, Rex W. Tillerson has indicated in Seoul that, in spite of international efforts of two decades, Pyongyang has remained adamant.
Therefore, among all available options to rein in North Korea, a possible pre-emptive military action could be included. Rattling of Sabers is fine but, strategists must, now, think out of the box and evolve a permanent solution.
