On Wednesday North Korea fired a missile into the sea near both Japan and South Korea. This missile traveled 250 km at a height of 50 km before crashing into the water minutes after it was reported by the Japanese Coast Guard. Japan strongly protested the launch through diplomatic connections in China, as did South Korea who announced they also had detected an unidentified missile fired from North Korea. This comes after South Korea analyzed a different missile fired by North Korea, and, based on the wreckage, determined it to be a soviet era surface-to-air missile. This shows that these supposed shows of force by North Korea, are not actually as threatening as they might first appear, however South Korea did note that this surface-to-air missile had capabilities to be fired as a surface-to-surface missile.
With the revelation that these missiles are both out of date, and intended for surface to air, not surface to surface combat, I think that this has backfired and made North Korea look desperate instead of looking powerful. North Korea has a long history of using missiles as a show of force. This seems to be just the same in a long line of empty threats made by the North Korean government. The difference is this time they seem to have been caught out making empty threats with outdated missiles. This could serve as a turning point in South Korean/Japanese relations with North Korea as it could lead to them no longer taking the nation’s threatening moves, as a threat.
This relates to what we have learned in class because this showcases an attempt in offensive realism. North Korea attempted to use its offensive power to make other countries around them feel threatened and/or fall into line. The difference is that in this case it seems likely that this attempt will backfire and that this action could lead to North Korea losing respect in its region