North Korea has been demonstrating their growing missile strength recently, and their latest test has people more than concerned. According to South Korea, three ballistic missiles were fired from Hwangju county and into the Japanese defense zone. Two weeks ago, the North Koreans had a similar test fire from a submarine near Pyongyang. Those missiles also entered the Japanese air defense zone for the first time, again without warning. All of the recent North Korean missile tests have the rest of the world in shock. Japan is seriously concerned about their safety, and while the US hopes to diplomatically address the issue, they view the launches as "reckless". One of the difficulties in handling this issue is that China opposes the THAAD missile defense system because it could shift the balance of power in favor of the US and their allies. China fears that THAAD could also be a national security risk because it has a range that could potentially hit Chinese weapons. THAAD has been creating tensions between the Chinese and South Koreans, which would ultimately benefit the North Koreans. The delicate situation of East Asia has many people worried about which direction to take in order to prevent North Korea's missiles from proving dangerous.
In recent times, North Korea has become an adversary that has been growing in regional power through their missiles. People fear that North Korea has developed a modern weapons program that would allow their missile technologically to exponentially increase. This leaves us with the difficult question of how to deal with the impending threats. North Korea poses a risk to many countries in their current situation, and there is no way to tell how much bigger they are continuing to grow. THAAD, a US run missile defense system that shoots down missiles, is currently the proposed solution. South Korea has agreed and, with the US, plans to implement it. However, this has fostered hostilities between South Korea and China. It would destroy all hopes of a diplomatic resolution if THAAD was to begin operating. North Korea, which has even angered its only ally China, is a power that the rest of the world needs to take seriously and unite against. If not, the seemingly problematic issues now will fester into a full blown missile war. If that situation were to occur, it would resemble the nuclear arms race between the US and Russia during the Cold War.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/05/asia/north-korea-ballistic-missiles/index.html
North Korea demonstrating their military strength is nothing to be laughed at. I don't understand their motivations for wanted to start a missile war however. Because they are a totalitarian government, they put all their emphasis and funding to the military and wouldn't back down with out a fight. But I'm hoping that peace between all the countries involved can be obtainable without war.
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