North pushing US into action

WE already knew that the UN sanctions announced this week against North Korea would not make Kim Jong-un stop and think.

But his response, to fire a second missile over Japan in less than a month, may be one of his final acts of recklessness before open conflict is declared.

Kim is deliberately pushing US President Donald Trump into a position where he is forced to take action.

Whether strikes on North Korea are imminent depends on what will be decided in Washington over coming hours and days.

To let Kim’s latest provocation go unchallenged may be one proposal, but it will be low on the list of options.

Unfortunately, for the safety of Japan and South Korea, and all planes and shipping moving throughout the entire region, it has reached the point where a military response to Pyongyang’s actions seems inevitable.

Australian academics argue we are not yet at the brink — the ANU’s Leonid Petrov even said he believed the US and North Korea had been secretly negotiating since the start of the year. Negotiating for what? No one wants to say there will be war, but it is difficult to see any other alternative. Kim is now at the point where he appears determined to cause mass carnage or, at the very least, trust that his missiles will stay true and not hit a neighbour.

North Korea has been dangerous for decades, but now it has ratcheted its aggression to the point of no turning back. Kim has ensured that this has now become a deadly crisis.