Early morning of July 5^th, North Korea shot the missiles, surprising the international community.

Basically, things in North Korea are always kind of mysteries, because of unpredictability and
frequent abrupt policy changes. In this, the same goes the story.

Initially when the North Korean regime publicised its intention to implement a missile experiment,
concerned parties had doubts, underestimated the possibility of the actuality. However, all of a
sudden, North Korean regime launched missiles, claiming the success of its missile programs.

As almost impossibility of direct access to the source of information, except the official
statements, obscures what’s the real intention of Pyongyang, the approach to the problem has a
fundamental limitation.

 Why North Korean shot missiles?

The general speculation is that North Korea shot the missiles in order to draw the U.S. to the
dialogue which is, at the moment, stuck to a stalemate since last winter. Last year, the 6-way
talk over North nuclear issue succeeded in securing a consensus and a framework for solving the
crisis, but the U.S. averted the path to further cooperation, by targeting North Korea again for
such crimes as money forgery and laundries. Since then, no one has witnessed any advancement in
talks over North Korean issues.

However, North Korea’s intention was not materialized, for the U.S. and Japan criticised North
Korea’s missile experiment, and finally brought the issue to the UN Security Council meeting that
adopted the anti-NK resolution.

If then, what was the real intention of North Korea’s missiles. Some one refers to internal
factor. That is, as the NK regime is faced with the stalemate for the external situation, it lacks
any meaningful means to improve the living conditions of the impoverished people. On the other
hand, the regime need to re-emphasied the priority of its Military-First policy, a version of
dominant ideology after the death of NK leader Kim Il-sung.

The military is the power-base for NK leader Kim Jong-il. As long as no visible outcome is
secured, the further moderate policy creates discontent among NK military leaders. In this
context, Kim has, at least, to take some tangible measure to appease the military. That is to say,
the leading role of the military needs to be emphasised constantly, and some steps need to be
taken to show off the power of NK’s military capacity.

 A failed tactics, but what?

The abrupt launch of NK missiles has given the U.S. and Japan a good pretext to pursue their own
imperialist policies. Immediately after the missile launch, both the U.S. and Japan started a
harsh campaign of criticising NK. The U.S. proposed an international sanction to NK, while Japan
justified its MD programme, a US-led missile defense programme.

In contrast, China and South Korea government are humiliated. The Chinese government sent a
special envoy just after the NK’s announcement of missile launch plan, only to fail to persuade
the NK regime. Thus, its role as a patron of North Korea was not materialise, and, thus, China was
forced to unwillingly support the US’s position.

And South Korean government also have been faced with a dilemma, in that SK’s year-long effort to
bring N-S national reconciliation was disrupted by the missile programme and consequent US
neo-cons’ merciless offenses.

After the launch, the SK regime criticised NK for the military maneuver. It also has no other
option but to join the US-led ranks of criticising NK regime, thereby imperiling the thus-far
improved the relationship with North Korea, which in return criticised SK for its cooperation with
US and Japanese imperialism.

As a result of these contexts and changing positions of major players, the US was poised at a
favourable position to push a tough offensive toward NK through the UN apparatus. Thus, on July
18, the UNSC meeting adopted a resolution against NK, which was an advance for the US compared
with the previous attack that resulted in the UNSC presidential statement.

 The root-cause of the crisis & #8211; US imperialism

Though the inopportune launch of missiles invited the US’s harsh attack and thereby isolating NK
internationally, the fundamental cause of the politico-military tensions and subsequent possible
war on the Korean peninsula is US imperialism’s strategy to contain NK regime militarily, and, in
the long run, to implement the regime change in NK.

According the documents on US military strategy, the potential enemy of the US domination over the
world is China, and in the context, the US strategy in North East Asia is to directly contain NK,
and thereby indirectly China, by means of its military alliance with Japan and South Korea,
respectively. But, in the context of South Korea’s appeasement policy with North Korea, there is
a conflict between the U.S. and South Korea.

As long as the US doesn’t give up its imperialist domination over NE Asia, the Korean peninsula
is exposed to constant danger of military confrontation and war.

 For a way out of the crisis and the task of national and international peace movement

How to secure peace on Korean peninsula? For more than half a century, Korean peninsula has been
under the constant threat of a war and a military confrontation. The aggressiveness of Japanese
militarism can be added as another factor that increases the danger of a military conflict and/or
a war. And one of the difficulties is the so-called North Korean problem. In spite of its internal
contradiction, North Korea, as a sovereign country, is a unpredictable, and therefore, unreliable
partner for the SK progressive movement and international peace movement.

In order to secure a permanent peace, the international solidarity is essential. Because to bring
peace, the priority is to contain the US Imperialism, but it’s not possible to contain the US
through the power of SK peace movement alone. Basically, as the governments in the region are not
partners for international peace movement, the peace movement based on the international alliance
in South Korea and Japan need a more complicated strategy to defeat the US and Japanese
imperialism, and thereby to secure a permanent peace on the peninsula and NE Asia as a whole.

Thus, the capacity to mobilise masses against the imperialism and for national organizing and
international coordination will be crucial for the struggle for the peace on Korean peninsula.