Provocative action

North Korea’s ballistic missile test could not have come at a worse time. It tore through the consciousness of the international community on May 14, when  more than 30 world leaders were in Beijing for President Xi Jinping’s launch of the $1.8 trillion One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. No doubt the test was provocative and reckless. If anything, it should convince all nations that greater efforts must be made to dissuade the regime in Pyongyang from taking such steps in future. North Korea’s actions were in brazen defiance of warnings by Beijing. US President Donald Trump was quick to call for tougher sanctions against Pyongyang and derided the country for being a flagrant menace for far too long. The White House noted that the missile impacted “so close to Russian soil ... the president cannot imagine that Russia is pleased.” Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, is currently in the Chinese capital for the Silk Road summit, the world’s biggest draw in terms of top leaders this year, and is unlikely to be amused by the latest North Korean act of aggression. Though the latest launch was still a long shot away from  the long-anticipated ICBM projected to carry a nuclear warhead to the US or Australia, it was a vast improvement on two recent damp squib tests.

The leaders of Russia and China discussed the Korean situation on the sidelines of the OBOR meeting and both men expressed their concern over the escalation of tensions.

North Korea must be clear about the global backlash it is likely to face. Trump has already threatened military action against it but in recent weeks he has shown willingness to meet leader Kim Jong-Un under the right conditions. It is clear that North Korea wants to maximise its political leverage ahead of possible negotiations with the US. But that is a path littered with landmines.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2017.

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