March 19, 2024
Opinion

Is a pre-emptive strike possible? North Korea in the age of Trump

The new administration has few good options when it comes to Pyongyang

The first days of January were marked by a remarkable, semi-direct exchange of veiled threats between two unlikely (or perhaps, given their brinksmanship, likely?) personalities – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un.

In his annual New Year speech, Kim Jong Un said that North Korea was finishing preparations for a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. It was implied, but not said explicitly, that such an ICBM will be capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the continental U.S.

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