AMAC Exclusive – By Ben Solis
While news of the Israel-Hamas war continues to dominate headlines, a series of alarming developments in North Korea present another area of mounting concern for the United States and the world.
On Monday, South Korean military sources revealed that North Korea has begun restoring border fortifications it dismantled five years ago following an agreement with South Korea orchestrated with help from former President Donald Trump.
Under the agreement, both North and South Korea said they would demolish guard posts within roughly 0.6 miles of the border. The two countries also agreed to stop all military drills near the border, establish a no-fly zone, and implement other measures to ease military tensions.
But South Korea’s Defense Ministry said photos showing a guard post and soldiers carrying heavy weapons inside the Demilitarized Zone indicate that North Korea had broken the pact and was restoring its troop presence near the border.
The setback added to news just a few days earlier that Pyongyang had successfully launched a spy satellite into orbit. The Pyongyang Times, a state propaganda outlet, reported that “respected Comrade Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch,” further revealing that North Korea plans to add more “reconnaissance satellites in a short span of time.”
The propaganda also claimed that Kim viewed images taken above the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam of U.S. military infrastructure, including the Andersen Air Force Base, as well as images of Hawaii. However, South Korea’s Defense Minister dismissed those claims, saying that it was impossible for the newly launched satellite to provide photos on the first day.
Nevertheless, Japan’s Defense Minister Minoru Kihara confirmed that an object launched by North Korea’s rocket was orbiting the Earth, initiated from the North Korean launch center at the Sohae Satellite Ground in North Pyongan Province. “Even if North Korea calls it a satellite, the firing that uses ballistic missile technology is a clear violation of related United Nations Security Council resolutions,” Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said.
During the launch, Japan’s government briefly issued a J-Alert missile warning for Okinawa, urging residents to take shelter inside buildings or underground.
While the satellite itself may pose only a limited threat to the security interests of the United States, the precedent it sets should be worrying for American military leaders. As Indo-Pacific specialists and experts have pointed out, the rockets used to propel the satellite into space could easily be weaponized against the West, and the launch marks an unnerving level of advancement for the Hermit Kingdom’s missile program.
Adding to these concerns, on the same day it became clear that North Korea’s satellite had indeed entered orbit, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported “a strong water outflow” from the cooling system at the Yongbyon nuclear research center – the site where Pyongyang enriches and reprocesses weapons-grade uranium. Last month, South Korean news sources reported that North Korea had halted activity at the complex “probably to extract plutonium that could be used for weapons by reprocessing spent fuel rods.”
Rafael Grossi, Director-General of the IAEA, said that there are now “indications of the ongoing operation of the reported centrifuge enrichment facility and its annex,” adding that the Punggye-ri site, where the North has conducted all six nuclear tests, remains “prepared to support a new nuclear test.”
Just five days after the North Korean satellite launch, the United States, Japan, and South Korea held trilateral naval drills in response to an incident off the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. South Korea’s Defense Ministry characterized exercises that took place in international waters southeast of Jeju Island as a simulated response to a North Korean missile launch.
But drills will hardly quiet tensions in the Indo-Pacific that have escalated throughout three years of Biden’s misguided policies.
Throughout his 2020 campaign, Biden and his allies constantly touted the career politician’s supposed diplomatic acumen, insisting that he would make America respected on the world stage and bring about a more peaceful future.
That fantasy was soon shattered by the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and then the start of the Russia-Ukraine war just a few months later. Now Biden’s weakness and haphazard policy has rekindled tensions with North Korea as well after President Trump’s historic meetings with Kim Jong Un and a ratcheting down of hostile rhetoric and military build-up.
“Not even one ally could imagine how amateurish, naive, and dangerous Biden’s policy would be,” one former high-ranking Japanese official, who requested anonymity since he still advises the government, told this author. When asked how effective Biden’s broad alliance building was, he compared it to “a collective effort of putting down fires that the White House ignites.”
In 2021, Biden’s first year in office, North Korea conducted six tests, which included a cruise missile with a range of 932 miles. A year later, Kim ordered a barrage of missile launches that by Christmas amounted to more than 90 cruise and ballistic missiles, with one test involving 23 missiles. This year, at least 18 ballistic missiles were tested, including four tests of the Hwasong-18 missile with a range of more than 9,000 miles – more than enough to reach American cities.
Professor Moo Jin Jang, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told this author that after North Korea restores its military presence near the border, the likelihood of unfortunate incidents triggering armed conflict will increase.
Biden’s failed presidency has already emboldened Russia to take direct action in Ukraine and Iran to release its proxies to wreak havoc and destruction in Israel. North Korea is now gearing up to take advantage of Biden’s weakness as well.
Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.
