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  • North Korea has fired two ballistic missiles that flew hundreds of kilometers to land in the Sea of Japan.

  • The prime minister called them a threat to peace in a violation of U.

  • N resolutions.

  • The launches are Pyongyang's first ballistic missile tests since President Biden took office in January.

  • Professor Robert Kelly is a North Korea expert at Pusan National University in South Korea, and we asked him how much of a threat these missiles are.

  • The North Koreans have had a pretty significant missile capacity for at least a decade, and the ability to strike the United States right to send them very, very far, Um, for at least four years.

  • So I'm not really sure that this actually adds anything dramatic that we haven't seen.

  • I don't think it indicates, for example, the North Koreans are willing to more willing to use them.

  • For example, my own read of this is that it's probably sort of a test was sort of an effort to provoke the Biden administration in its early days to tell them we're here.

  • You can't push us around, pay attention to us, that sort of thing.

  • I think the Biden people actually be quite wise not to say a whole lot.

  • I mean, this is how they responded to the shorter range test just a few days ago.

  • And the reason I suggest that is not because North Korea is not a threat.

  • It obviously is.

  • Japanese are right in their response.

  • It's just that the Biden people and the South Koreans and the Japanese, too.

  • I mean, we just don't have a lot of good options, right?

  • And we can't strike the sites.

  • Obviously, we're not going to risk of conflict in North Korea.

  • They've got nuclear weapons on North Korea is already under sanctions.

  • We can.

  • I mean, I suppose you could slap more on them, but that's we've already gone down that route pretty far.

  • So the Biden administrations options are pretty limited.

  • And I think this is why the Biden people have been fairly quiet about it, right?

  • I don't I think they don't want this to be sort of ginned up for sort of read into a test of its resolve or its willingness to sort of be tough, because the options are just so poor.

North Korea has fired two ballistic missiles that flew hundreds of kilometers to land in the Sea of Japan.

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