The World’s Response to North Korea’s Provocations

It was an average morning in Japan’s city streets. The weather was mild and the sun began to break the horizon off the eastern coast. As steelworkers, taxi drivers, retail workers, and everyday citizens began to start their day, they heard a shrieking clarion shatter the morning breeze. Sirens all across the country told Japanese residents to shelter in place. For all they knew, war could be on the horizon.

North Korea had already conducted five missile tests in the past 10 days and 23 since the start of 2022.
North Korea’s ballistic missile traveled a whopping 3000 miles, setting the record for their ballistic missile tests.

The entire country of Japan went into a state of lockdown. Air-raid sirens blared, shattering the crisp fall air.
Japanese citizens scrambled without a clue of what might come next.

The United States and South Korea responded in kind. An American supercarrier repositioned near Pyongyang and the two nations fired a volley of missiles into the sea as a warning to the instigating totalitarian regime.

According to reports, the North Korean test was nuclear armed. It traveled 3,000 miles and was the first since 2017 to travel through Japanese airspace. The missile was an IRBM or an intermediate ranged ballistic missile.

Following that last test, then President Donald J Trump issued a famous warning. He said that if North Korda were to continue these escalations they would be met with a “fire and fury” that the “world has never seen.”

“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen. He has been very threatening … and as I said they will be met with fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before.”

The UN Security Council is set to meet on Wednesday to discuss the act of military grandstanding. China and Russia have told the council that they are staunchly opposed to an open meeting of the sort. Japan and its allies, however, must respond.

The worst aspect of these threats from North Korea is the fact that the nation is entirely unpredictable. What were they to do if the missile fell short and landed in a Japanese city? Suddenly, Japan and its allies would have no choice but to invade. Hopefully, Joe Biden will respond in a somewhat similar vein to Donald Trump. The reality of the situation, however, is that North Korea seems unafraid of even a war that would completely destroy them.