March 09, 2017
The Ultimate Missile Shield: The U.S.-South Korea Alliance?
The flurry of news stories about North Korea’s latest salvo of missile tests gives Kim Jong-un the media coverage he craves and diverts attention from enduring strategic realities. Four extended-range Scud missiles are broadly construed to highlight Pyongyang’s inexorable march toward acquiring a long-range nuclear arsenal that will transform the balance of power in Northeast Asia.
The news is all the more jarring when surrounding powers are embroiled in their own domestic issues: impeached South Korean president Park Geun-hye is being implicated in a corruption scandal involving Samsung; the United States is convulsing over a mystery triggered by Russia’s interference in the American electoral process; and China is completing critical political proceedings enroute to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party later this year.
We need to avoid manufacturing a crisis. Headlines tell us the “shocking” news that North Korea is apparently testing missiles aimed at U.S. and allied targets. Indeed, what did we think they were aiming at?
Read the full article at The National Interest.
More from CNAS
-
Why Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran are teaming up
Video
Probably the most surprising thing about the war in Ukraine is that Russia is getting a ton of help. North Korea and Iran are sending it millions of rounds of ammunition and l...
By Andrea Kendall-Taylor
-
How to Revamp Chinese Students’ American Education
Commentary
The PRC today operates the largest and most sophisticated propaganda apparatus in human history....
By Bill Drexel & Grace Gao
-
U.S. military must reinforce Guam's crumbling infrastructure
Commentary
In Guam, one is quickly struck by the juxtaposition of crystal-clear waters with crumbling infrastructure and abandoned cars strewn across the small Pacific island. Following ...
By Taren Sylvester & Evan Wright
-
Understanding China-Philippines' dangerous South China Sea face-offs
Podcast
The situation in the South China Sea is more worrying than that in the Taiwan Strait, says Indo Pacific security expert Lisa Curtis, former top US official and now Senior Fell...
By Lisa Curtis
