The United States and South Korea, on Wednesday, jointly launched four missiles off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. The launch was in response to North Korea’s provocative missile launch on Tuesday, which it fired over Japan. 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said both sides fired two surface-to-surface missiles each into the sea and that all four hit their targets. He said the purpose of the tests was to demonstrate the capabilities of both nations “to deter further provocations.” 

Japan and the United States had previously responded to the North Korean threats on Tuesday. The US Marine Corps and Japan Air Self-Defense Force jets flew over the East Sea in Japan to demonstrate the ally’s strength amid the threats coming from North Korea.

John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications said the allies have what it takes to immediately respond to the provocations by North Korea. 

“This is not the first time we’ve done this in response to provocations by the North to make sure that we can demonstrate our own capabilities,” Kirby told CNN. 

“We want to see the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, (North Korean leader Kim Jong Un) hasn’t shown an inclination to move in that direction, quite frankly he’s moving in the opposite direction by continuing to conduct these missile tests which are violations of security council resolutions,” Kirby added.

North Korea is not in the mood to talk

Unlike previous missiles launch, North Korea’s state TV has not confirmed that the country fired a missile past Japan. Could it be that the Supreme leader is scared? Absolutely not. Analysts believe North Korea is not in a talking mood, but at the right time would respond by launching other missiles. 

The test of a nuclear weapon might not be far off, and it appears that no amount of threat by the US and its allies would stop it. 

Jeffrey Lewis, of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said: “North Korea is going to keep conducting missile tests until the current round of modernization is done. I don’t think a nuclear (test) explosion is far behind.”

“The North Koreans are in no mood to talk. They’re in the mood of testing and blowing things off,” Jeffrey added. 

The long road to denuclearization

The ultimate goal of the United States is to denuclearize North Korea. No matter who becomes the president, the plan remains. However, different leaders have come up with different approaches, but none seems to be working out.

Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, believes the United States might have failed in its quest to denuclearize North Korea and could be on its way to developing nuclear weapons.

“Denuclearization is now I think in the dustbin of history as a failed policy,” Panda said.

“There is simply no practical plan at this point, especially in the short term, to bring North Korea to the negotiating table and to pursue denuclearization,” he added. 

John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson of the United States even admitted that North Korea is getting better by the day. 

He  told Fox News on Tuesday that each time North Korea launches a weapon, “they learn, they get better, they get more capable.”

Many have wondered if Trump’s criticized diplomatic approach was better than Joe Biden’s military action, as the latter might have made things worse.