KIM’S ‘GAME OF CHICKEN’
U.S. to test missile defense system today
The Pentagon will test its anti-missile system over the Pacific today just a day after North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile, as tensions escalated even further in the ongoing global hotspot.
“This is playing a game of chicken with the planet’s future at risk. ... I just hope that both sides are wise enough not to play it to the end,” said Adil Najam, the dean of the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University. “When messaging and diplomacy through words is abandoned, then messaging and diplomacy through weapons happens.”
Bracing for a potential North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile, the U.S. will test an interceptor today in a drill the Pentagon likens to hitting a bullet with a bullet.
The interceptor will be launched from an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on a mission to obliterate its target — a custom-made missile simulating an ICBM that will be fired from a test range on Kwajalein Atoll, RMI, in the Pacific.
The interceptor, or “kill vehicle,” should slam into the mock warhead high over the Pacific, but the defense system’s track record is spotty.
Jim Walsh, a senior research associate at MIT’s Security Studies Program who has previously traveled to North Korea for nuclear talks, told the Herald the Pentagon is likely to sugarcoat the results of the test, particularly if it winds up a failure.
A missile defense system is far from a reliable solution and shouldn’t take the place of the prospect of nuclear talks, he added.
“We’ve spent billions and billions of dollars on this,” said Walsh. “It’s a really, really, really hard thing to do. But the main thing is that, obviously, prudent policy makers should explore their options, and this is an option, but it’s an option more hurtful than helpful if it becomes a crutch and people falsely believe this will solve our problems.”
On Sunday, North Korea yet again tested a short-range ballistic missile, believed to be a Scud, which flew about 280 miles and landed in Japan’s maritime economic zone.
It was the ninth test this year as North Korea’s dictator, Kim Jong Un, tries to lead the country into the nuclear age.
President Trump tweeted shortly after the test: “North Korea has shown great disrespect for their neighbor, China, by shooting off yet another ballistic missile...but China is trying hard!”
Najam predicted the U.S. interceptor launch will likely trigger even more tests by the North Koreans.
Observers believe North Korea is trying to develop the capability to strike the mainland United States with a nuclear missile.
Others consider the latest testing merely an attempt by Kim to dominate the world’s attention.
“There is an overall pattern that is going on with North Korea, and clearly I think they are both testing their equipment and signaling to the rest of the world that they are important and should not be ignored,” said Cheryl Rofer, a retired Los Alamos National Laboratory chemist. “Whether or not they want war — I tend to doubt that — I suspect they want something more like negotiations. And I think that we should be thinking about how we want to do those negotiations.”