{"id":43147,"date":"2019-12-13T17:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T08:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=43147"},"modified":"2026-04-05T15:33:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T06:33:30","slug":"north-korea-moving-closer-achieving-strategic-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-moving-closer-achieving-strategic-position\/","title":{"rendered":"N. Korea is moving closer to achieving its &#8220;strategic position&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korea is again raising the stakes. Having urged a change in the US denuclearization calculus in the runup to their \u201cend-of-the-year\u201d deadline for US-DPRK negotiations, North Korean authorities are now fiddling around with an ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile)-shaped bargaining chip after a lukewarm response from the US. The situation presages a possible return to the \u201cfire and fury\u201d days of two years ago and shows the troubling development of a US-North Korea standoff. But North Korea\u2019s various provocations appear to be plans that tie into the long-standing objective of solidifying North Korea\u2019s \u201cstrategic position.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Having presented the end of the year as the deadline for denuclearization negotiations, North Korean authorities are growing increasingly anxious. As of late, North Korea has gradually been escalating provocations in order to induce the US to act in a desired manner. After displaying the ability to strike US military bases in South Korea by test-firing four different types of new strategic weapons, North Korea eventually engaged in further provocations near the Changrin Islet in the Yellow Sea, in direct violation of the Sept. 19 Comprehensive Military Agreement. This can be understood as North Korea\u2019s warning that the peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, which President Trump has been claiming as one of his key accomplishments, can be undone at any time. Having exhibited the ability to threaten the US mainland with a successful test of the SLBM (submarine-launched ballistic missile) Pukguksong-3 last October, North Korea has recently begun to test the United States\u2019 line in the sand, provoking a sense of crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_42457\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-42457\" style=\"width: 741px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-42457\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/\ubd81\uadf9\uc131-3\ud638.jpg\" alt=\"Launch of North Korea SLBM\" width=\"741\" height=\"494\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/\ubd81\uadf9\uc131-3\ud638.jpg 741w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/\ubd81\uadf9\uc131-3\ud638-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/\ubd81\uadf9\uc131-3\ud638-696x464.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/10\/\ubd81\uadf9\uc131-3\ud638-630x420.jpg 630w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 741px) 100vw, 741px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-42457\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A photograph of North Korea&#8217;s launch of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile, called the Pukguksong-3. \/ Image: Rodong Sinmun homepage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a Sunday statement, a spokesperson for North Korea\u2019s Academy of Defense Sciences announced that \u201cOn the afternoon of December 7th, 2019, a very important test was undertaken at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station.\u201d It appears that the test was of a high-output engine using liquid fuel for ICBM launches. The academy\u2019s spokesperson emphasized that the results of this significant test will greatly contribute to further strengthening North Korea\u2019s \u201cstrategic position.\u201d Although there is some room for disagreement regarding the engine fuel tested that day, what is clear is that the North Korean authorities have publicly addressed the topic of its \u201cstrategic position.\u201d Despite President Trump\u2019s hints at the possibility of military action as well as warnings that North Korea has much to lose if it continues to behave aggressively, Kim Jong Un is nonetheless toying with the possibility of an ICBM provocation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North Korea\u2019s \u201cstrategic position\u201d appears to refer to the country\u2019s ability to influence the international community as a nuclear power. Past international negotiations aiming to bring about North Korea\u2019s denuclearization, such as the three-party, four-party, and six-party talks, were all spearheaded by the international community and countries like the US or China. But it seems that North Korea is confident that, having secured a \u201cstrategic position,\u201d they will be able to take a more influential role alongside these leader countries. A nuclear armed-North Korea will likely try to lead negotiations over the reduction of nuclear arsenals and the withdrawal of US troops stationed in South Korea for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet there are still steps remaining before North Korea\u2019s strategic position will be acknowledged by the international community: the acquisition of indisputable nuclear capabilities. Because North Korea is believed to already possess the technology to miniaturize nuclear warheads, the biggest task in front of them is acquiring ICBM reentry technology, which enables ICBMs and their warheads to survive the shock and 7,000 degree Celsius heat when re-entering the atmosphere. North Korea is most likely planning further ICBM test launches in order to develop this technology; indeed, the recent liquid fuel engine output test is almost assuredly part of these efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Given this situation, it is impossible to ignore the feeling that North Korea is methodically following a pre-planned timetable in their provocations. Regardless of any changes in the US calculus, North Korea is moving to secure the strategic position of being a nuclear power. It goes without saying that it is now impossible to denuclearize North Korea. It thus follows that the US-ROK denuclearization strategy was just a waste of two years of negotiations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The author is a researcher at the Institute for North Korean Studies, the oldest research academy of its kind in South Korea.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>*Translated by Violet Kim<\/em><\/p>\n<p><i>Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North Korea is again raising the stakes. Having urged a change in the US denuclearization calculus in the runup to their \u201cend-of-the-year\u201d deadline for US-DPRK negotiations, North Korean authorities are now fiddling around with an ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile)-shaped bargaining chip after a lukewarm response from the US. The situation presages a possible return to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":43148,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[644],"tags":[96,3238],"class_list":["post-43147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-analysis-and-opinion","tag-denuclearization","tag-north-korea-foreign-policy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>N. 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Korea is moving closer to achieving its \"strategic position\" - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-moving-closer-achieving-strategic-position\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-moving-closer-achieving-strategic-position\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/\ucd08\ub300\ud615\ubc29\uc0ac\ud3ec.jpg","datePublished":"2019-12-13T08:00:34+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-05T06:33:30+00:00","description":"Daily NK columnist argues US-DPRK talks over the past two years have \"been a waste of time\" given North Korea's efforts to gain a \"strategic position\"","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-moving-closer-achieving-strategic-position\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-moving-closer-achieving-strategic-position\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-moving-closer-achieving-strategic-position\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/\ucd08\ub300\ud615\ubc29\uc0ac\ud3ec.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/12\/\ucd08\ub300\ud615\ubc29\uc0ac\ud3ec.jpg","width":741,"height":494,"caption":"North Korean state media reported on Nov. 29 that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had observed the launch of a large rocket. \/ Image: Rodong Shinmun"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-moving-closer-achieving-strategic-position\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"N. 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Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.","email":"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net","telephone":"82-2-732-6998","legalName":"DailyNK","foundingDate":"2004-12-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"1","maxValue":"10"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/01c065a34d6010f2cd98ddd6e1320e18","name":"Mun Sun Bo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","caption":"Mun Sun Bo"},"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/author\/mun-sun-bo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43147"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43147\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43165,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43147\/revisions\/43165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}