North Korean missile over Japanese airspace and the implications for the U.S.

On August 29^th, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) fired a Hwasong-12 missile over northern Japanese airspace landing in the Pacific Ocean. The missile launch traveled around 1,677 miles and reached a height of 341 miles.

The Hwasong-12 missile was designed to carry a nuclear payload, however, there was no reported damage from the launch in Japan or the surrounding area.  The Hwasong-12 missile is currently the longest-range missile tested by North Korea, and in full deployment it can reach around 2,800 miles. This would be able to reach Alaska.

North Korea is reported to have two other long-range missiles which would be able to travel the distance to New York City, however, these have yet to be tested. These long-range weapons known as the Hwasong-14 and Taepodong-2 may be tested in the near future, as North Korea continues to ramp up missile tests in violation of U.N Security Council Resolution 2371.

This test not only sets a future precedent that the DPRK intends on future launches, but also increasingly poses a greater threat, initially Guam, but also the continental United States.

Within this past year the DPRK’s provocative messages to the United States, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, have heightened tensions as they continue testing larger ICBMs. This is the 14^th missile test from North Korea in this past year alone.

On August 14^th Kim Jong-un threatened to strike Guam but backed down as tension and pressure from the U.S. escalated. Guam is strategically important for the United States with two military bases, Andersen Air Force Base and Naval Base Guam, it holds one of the largest weapon reserves for the U.S. military.

August 25^th North Korea tested three short-range ballistic missiles to the northeast, two of which flew about 155 miles, and one of which blew up immediately. These recent missile tests are in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2371 and raises a great concern for the U.S. to keep an eye on.

Although provisions from UN Security Council Resolution 2371 imposed new sanctions on North Korea after staging two long-range missile launches in July, it is unlikely that this will resolve the majority of the issues. From the tests in August, North Korea has not suspended activities related to their ballistic missile program.

While the White House preferred means of approach is diplomacy, there is an alternative answer for future North Korea missile launches, shoot them down.

The U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) located in South Korea is a missile system which targets incoming ballistic missiles in their final phase of flight. THAAD is intended to shoot down small, medium, and intermediate ballistic missiles and has a senor range of about 1,240 miles.

Deploying THAAD systems in the region is not without controversy however.

THAAD sensors deployed in South Korea can reach into parts of China and Russia as well. Both states worry that the radar will invade their territory and compromise their security.

U.S. allies look on the deployments more favorably however. Deploying two of these THAAD systems would allow for substantial regional coverage to protect U.S. allies, including South Korea, Japan, as well as the U.S. territory of Guam.

Following this Tuesday’s missile launch Japanese’s Prime Minster Shinzo Abe released a statement condemning the DPRK actions. The Japanese and American governments both are committed to putting pressure on North Korea, to stop testing missiles before the situation escalates.

Japan currently is considering on installing a similar system, Aegis Ashore, which would cost less for the Japanese government, but work at a similar range capacity. The Japanese plan to incorporate this system into their 2018 budget.

As North Korea looks to improve its ballistic missile capability the Trump Administration should consider working with allies to expand missile defense coverage in the region under threat from North Korea’s missile capacity.