In many ways, North Korea is quite predictable. The government in Pyongyang was expected to try to provoke the Biden administration, and this week it did just that with a series of missile launches. International reaction has been muted — as it should be. Every challenge does not deserve a response. But North Korea should not be allowed to set the pace for diplomacy.
The United States should complete its policy review, consult with allies and partners and then agree on a way forward. Pyongyang’s attempts to escalate should be called out for what they are: transparent efforts to dictate the tempo and nature of a confrontation. Our response should be reasoned and measured.
The North Korean regime invariably tests a new U.S. president, and Biden’s tough talk during the campaign — he called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “a thug” — made a challenge likely. A nine-day U.S.-South Korean joint military exercise that started March 9 provided additional incentive to take action. When U.S. officials met with Japanese and South Korean counterparts last week and they publicly announced that they had discussed North Korea, a provocation became a virtual certainty. (Pyongyang often greets senior U.S. officials to the region with a test of some sort.)
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