Dr. Darcie Draudt
Darcie Draudt is a postdoctoral fellow at the George Washington University Institute for Korean Studies. Her expertise includes South and North Korean domestic politics and foreign policy, inter-Korean relations, and U.S.-Korea policy.
Dr. Draudt offered the following statement:
“North Korea’s ICBM launch suggests North Korea is one step closer to possessing weapons capable of hitting the continental United States— presenting a very serious threat to the U.S., its allies, and regional stability.
The timing of the launch is no coincidence. First, the launch coincides with the G7 summit when Biden is preoccupied with Ukraine. North Korea’s test begs an American response that it might not be able to give given its attentions to Ukraine. Geopolitically, neither Moscow nor Beijing—whose eyes are on Ukraine now—will likely agree to additional sanctions at the UN Security Council, which has banned North Korea's intercontinental missile testings. On the peninsula, the missile launch serves as a strong statement on the election earlier this month of Conservative Yoon Seok-yeol, who has pledged a harder approach toward Pyongyang.
Looking forward, there’s a high chance that Kim Jong-un will ramp up the pace on ICBM and nuclear weapons tests symbolically timed with the 80th anniversary of the birth of his late father, Kim Jong-il, and 110th anniversary of the birth of his grandfather, Kim Il-sung.”
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