N. Korea lets missiles do the talking

North Korea’s latest barrage of missiles may look like another attempt to ratchet up hostilities in return for some sort of leverage at the bargaining table. But the launches over the past two weeks seem different.

Unlike previous provocations, Kim Jong Un’s regime has mostly refrained from trumpeting the missiles along with the usual creative vitriol directed at the U.S. and its allies. Kim has been out of the public eye for more than three weeks, his longest absence in a year. State media on Thursday released a photo of a floral arrangement given to Kim, but no pictures of him.

That could always indicate Kim is facing some health problem or just taking a break. In August, his sister revealed that Kim was “seriously ill” after suffering from “high fever” during a COVID outbreak.

But more broadly, the subdued posture suggests North Korea is intent on letting actions speak louder than words as it looks to build a credible nuclear threat. And a big reason is because Kim has more reliable partners in China and Russia, which supported sanctions against his regime at the United Nations only five years ago.

That raises the prospect for greater escalation in the coming weeks and months. The U.S., Japan and South Korea have already warned that Kim’s regime is readying its first atomic detonation since 2017, a test that could help North Korea miniaturize warheads for new short-range missiles it has rolled out in the past few years.

North Korea has fired 10 ballistic missiles in less than two weeks.

“The slew of recent missile launches is a tit-for-tat response from the North to demonstrate its deterrence capabilities against the U.S. and South Korea,” said Hong Min, director of North Korean Research Division at the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul. Pyongyang “is now more focused on showcasing the actual deployment of its weapons in the real world to demonstrate that they can fire at any time, which presents a real threat.”