Still, since the start of the year, there’s been a noticeable jump in the North’s military activity. On Jan. 14, it claimed to have tested a new type of intermediate-range ballistic missile. That followed live-five military exercises it carried out in the first week of January. CSIS analysts say the North tends to ramp up its provocations during U.S. election years. But Lyle Goldstein, a military expert who is the director of Asia Engagement at the U.S. think tank Defense Priorities, said if North Korea dared to launch an ICBM at the U.S. it would be destroyed.
“(Kim) is extremely unlikely to commit national suicide in this way.”
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