Kim Jong-Un is Angry Because We're Provoking Him

As North Korea continues to broadcast their rhetoric about launching nuclear attacks on the United States, the Department of Defense responded by sending F-22 fighter jets to its strategic ally of South Korea on Sunday. While the planes are traveling to join pre-planned military drills, they may backfire as they give rise to more rhetoric and thus increasing security threats to the United States.

North Korea’s media service announced earlier this week that their leader Kim Jong-Un signed off on a plan to direct missiles toward U.S. military bases in Hawaii, Guam, and even the mainland of the United States. However, this was a classic case of faulty rhetoric in that the regime does not have the technological capabilities to successfully reach such a task.

The jets took off from the Kadena Air Base in Okanawa, Japan to South Korea, which will most likely enrage the radical Kim Jong-Un to launch more threats. North Korea has also increased tensions with its border country, which has sparked the U.S. intervention. China and Russia have attempted to intervene in the conflict as well. Both nations have urged the U.S. to shy away from the Korean peninsula.

"The situation could simply get out of control, it is slipping toward the spiral of a vicious cycle," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.

While the threats and rhetoric exercised by the North Korean regime lack credibility, increased U.S. intervention is adding unwanted negative attention. A more powerful message will be received if no intervention is taken, which will inform the North Korean military that their threats lack legitimacy.

As for the UN, official sanctions were filed against North Korea for their continued nuclear testing and repeated threats against the U.S. and South Korea. Citing The New York Times, the sanctions are printed as follows:

"Calling such sanctions 'an act of war,' the North has sharply escalated its threats against the United States and its allies in the last few days, declaring the 1953 armistice that stopped the Korean War null and void and threatening to turn Washington and Seoul into 'a sea in flames' with 'lighter and smaller nukes,'" it said.

Simply put, the proper solution at this time is to back out of both Koreas. Indeed an important component of U.S. foreign policy is to maintain relationships with key allies, and provide support in times of security threats. However, North Korea will keep prolonging its rhetoric, just as long as the U.S. gives them something to be enraged about. By dismissing the threats, Kim Jong-Un will come to realize that he will not be able to lead a strong fight.