For years now, North Korea has been performing a bit of a juggling act with the heavy international sanctions against them, ramping up their aggressive posturing and then relaxing it under the pretense that some leniency will be granted on the downturn.
And, knowing that his nation couldn’t actually survive any sort of international conflict, Kim Jong Un’s increasingly frequent ballistic missile launches are truly little more than symbolic reminders of just how petty he truly is.
This week, as US Vice President Kamala Harris visited the region, Kim was back to his infamous old ways.
North Korea carried out another banned missile test, just hours after a visit by US Vice-President Kamala Harris, South Korea’s military says.
Two short-range ballistic missiles were fired into the sea off the North’s east coast, it said, in the third such breach of UN sanctions this week.
It follows a visit by Ms Harris to the demilitarised zone dividing the Koreas.
The dainty despot has been busy already this year.
This has been a record year for missile tests in North Korea and the latest launches are timed to send a message.
They come as the US and South Korea held joint naval drills this week around the Korean peninsula.
Former President Donald Trump appeared to have cultivated a rather profound relationship with North Korea, becoming the first US President to ever step foot into the country.
