Once a possible holdout of Russia-U.S. international cooperation, North Korea has since evolved into the latest area of diplomatic disagreement between Moscow and Washington.

Unlike other areas of geopolitical discord between Moscow and Washington, such as Syria and Ukraine, the source of the latest diplomatic standoff between the two powers is not of a traditionally geopolitical nature. Rather, it has recently from a fundamental disagreement over the most recent advances in North Korea’s missile technology.

In the past, the only American targets against which North Korea was presumably capable of carrying out a direct strike were U.S. military installations in