In Asia the arms race is unleashed: the region risks becoming a powder keg
Not just the Korean Peninsula. All of Asia is at the center of a dangerous arms race that threatens to turn the Far East into a dangerous powder keg. All the attention right now is on North Korea, following the escalation that came as its leader, Kim Jong-un, sought to solidify the country’s position as a nuclear-armed power. Last month, North Korea adopted a new law stating that it would launch a nuclear attack “automatically and immediately” if the command and control system of its nuclear forces – an apparent reference to Kim’s leadership – were put in jeopardy.
There is also the fact that Pyongyang has greatly modernized its arsenal. Recently, for example, it showed what appeared to be a larger and more enhanced version of the KN-23. Photos released by North Korean media indicate that it was the newly developed tactical guided missile launched by North Korea in March of the same year.. The new missile was developed to be larger than the KN-23 in order to carry a larger warhead and more fuel. North Korea said the missile could carry a 2.5-ton warhead. South Korea’s defense minister later admitted that his military missed part of the North Korean missile’s trajectory due to its mid-air maneuver.
North Korea also tested “long-range cruise missiles” in September 2021. It called them a “strategic weapon”, indicating that he would arm the new missile with nuclear warheads. Also in 2021, North Korea began testing what it called a ballistic missile with a detachable “hypersonic” gliding warhead. The country’s missile tests showed they were becoming more difficult to intercept. During military parades in 2020 and 2021, North Korea showed what appeared to be two upgraded versions of its Pukguksong submarine launch ballistic missiles. It currently has only one submarine capable of launching a ballistic missile, but says it is building a new one with greater capabilities.
But now the moves of Myanmar are also disturbing. The recent confirmation by the junta that it wants to build a nuclear power plant on a small scale over the next few years concludes Myanmar’s long path to nuclear technology, which dates back to the early 2000s. Although the current regime insists that nuclear power will be used for peaceful purposes in Myanmar, which has been suffering from a chronic electricity shortage, many believe that this is the first step in a plan to use nuclear energy for military purposes, including the production of nuclear weapons. An eventuality that makes you shudder thinking about the position of the military junta.
Not to mention the potential of China, which has some 300 land-based cruise missiles and 1,900 ballistic missiles that could strike Japan, but above all it is investing more than anyone else in the world in the modernization and development of its naval fleet, with an eye to the claims on Taiwan and the South China Sea.
South Korea responds with a new missile. During Armed Forces Day celebrations, he showed a video of his latest ballistic missile. In the video, the missile is shown as part of the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation system, one of Seoul’s “three-axis” strategies that aims at North Korea’s leadership. including its military headquarters. The axes also include the Kill Chain preemptive strike platform and Korea’s air and missile defense system.
#Asia #Kim #Jongun #unleashes #arms #race #missile #nuclear #boom