The increasing tension between the USA and North Korea has been evident over these past months, each giving the other nicknames: President Trump’s being “Dotard” and Kim Jong Un’s being “Rocket Man”. Three weeks ago, North Korea launched an inter-ballistic missile which traveled 2,300 miles before it landed in the Pacific Ocean, placing Guantanamo Bay within their missile range. As a response, the US had a joint air drill with Japan and South Korea over the North Korean Peninsula to demonstrate their power.

Kim Jong Un has been outspoken about his goals. He wants North Korea to be armed equal to the US, so the US will no longer have military action as an option against them. Sanctions placed against them in attempt to prevent further development motivates them to work harder to become a nuclear force as their Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

As of now, the US government has not attempted to intercept any of the missiles launched by North Korea because none of them have been on a path to hit the US or Allied territories according to Defense of Secretary James N. Mattis. North Korea’s tests are seen as them testing US’s threshold to see how much they can do. To give in would be to let them win.

The US is looking into various means of stopping an attack before it occurs such as sending air and sea attacks to destroy any of North Korea’s weapons they can detect using satellite surveillance, cyber attacks against the government’s system, and halt any importation of fuel into the country. But in any case of an attack to US or Allied land, the US is confident in its means of defenses to intercept the missile and respond with the appropriate force.

-Saira Gonzalez