By Seunghyun Nam In the past month, North Korea has conducted a record-breaking number of weapons tests that were reported to be simulations of nuclear attacks on key South Korean targets. North Korea has conducted 40 missile launches this year alone, compared to only eight last year. Hints of the country’s spate of drills began in January, when it kicked off the year by test-firing an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM). The launch was accompanied by a series of shorter-range tests and its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test since 2017, when regional tension was at its peak. On October 4, 2022, North Korea launched another ICBM over Japan, breaking the record for its longest-range missile test. North Korea also fired hundreds of artillery shells in the maritime buffer zones near the South Korean borders, heightening tensions in the peninsula. With the series of weapons testing and the country’s recent revision of its nuclear laws to allow preemptive attacks, there is rising fear that it may resume its nuclear tests, which have been put to a halt since 2017. The two Koreas had maintained a steady relationship under the leadership of Kim Jong-Un and South Korea’s former president Moon Jae-In. The high-profile Inter-Korean Summit in 2018 marked a symbolic moment when the two leaders met for the first time in the demilitarized zone. They signed the Panmunjom Declaration, committing to peace, prosperity, and reunification of the two countries. But South Korea’s newly elected president Yoon Suk-yeol—the former Prosecutor General and member of the conservative People Power Party—has been persistent in his hardliner approach to conflicts with North Korea, identifying the country as South Korea’s “main enemy”. In fact, the unprecedented number of drills in the past month have been in response to South Korea’s first full-scale joint military exercise with the US in years, which Yoon has been determined to bring back. The US-ROK joint exercises had either been scaled down or canceled in the past years, in light of the pandemic and efforts to continue peace talks with North Korea. The two weeks of missile testing were supervised by Kim Jong-Un. Since he assumed power as supreme leader in 2011, Kim Jong-Un’s political life has centered on consolidating North Korean military capabilities and establishing its title as a legitimate nuclear state. He has conducted over 160 missile tests, as opposed to only 30 by his father and grandfather. He also carried out four nuclear tests in five years, stepping up its nuclear strength with each successive test. But Kim Jong-Un’s military ambitions come at the expense of the country’s already suffering economy. The regime’s development of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons has urged international condemnation. In an attempt to denuclearize North Korea, the UN Security Council and world powers including the US have imposed financial and economic sanctions on the state since 2006. The UN Security Council has passed multiple resolutions throughout the years, introducing tighter measures to ban the sale of arms, technology and materials that could be used for the development of weapons. The sanctions have also imposed heavy restrictions on foreign trade, enforcing measures to inspect international deliveries to North Korea. In response to the recent drills carried out by North Korea, South Korea also imposed unilateral sanctions on North Korea—its first in five years—followed by Japan, targeting North Korean trading firms and individuals. Targeted sanctions tied to the COVID-19 pandemic have taken a toll on the economy, with North Koreans suffering from severe food shortages and runaway inflation. Last year, the regime warned the population to get ready for a depressed economy measuring up to that of the Arduous March—an economic crisis from 1994 to 1998 that led to a period of mass starvation. The economic conditions exacerbated when the regime imposed a strict national lockdown in January 2020. North Korea was one of the first countries to seal its borders following its first case of COVID-19, which also curtailed its trade with China, its main trading partner. While the economic sanctions had indirectly affected the population by placing caps on goods such as gas, coal, and industrial machinery, the national lockdown had a direct impact on the country’s food shortages. Import of grains, farming equipment, and fertilizers was blocked, contributing to low crop yields and food insecurity. Food imports from China have also declined by 80 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels. North Korea has also increased its crackdown on citizens who have resorted to side jobs, as the government-assigned jobs are proving more difficult to provide for living expenses. Food prices have also skyrocketed following the national lockdown. Meanwhile, North Korea continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on its development of nuclear weapons and missiles. According to estimates by the US State Department, close to a quarter of its gross domestic product (GDP) is spent on the country’s military pursuit, with annual spending of $4 billion on average from 2009 to 2019. With each missile launch costing approximately $1 million, and nearly $1 billion to develop a complete weapon system, the regime’s military pursuit is a considerable burden for the country’s suffering economy.
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