Asia Insights Weekly: North Korea’s Latest Provocation

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December 11, 2012           Your Weekly Update from The Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center North Korean Missile Launch Challenges U.S. Foreign Policy  By Bruce Klingner North Korea announced on December 1 that, between December 10 and 22, it would again attempt to launch a “civilian satellite.” The Unha-3 launch vehicle is the same as the Taepo Dong-2 (TD-2) intercontinental ballistic missile that North Korea previously test launched in 2006, 2009, and 2012. North Korea bragged in October that its missiles could “strike the U.S. mainland.” The U.S. intelligence community assessed that Pyongyang might be able to threaten the continental U.S. with a nuclear-armed TD-2 by 2015. The U.S. should respond firmly to yet another North Korean defiance of United Nations resolutions. Washington should lead the charge for more comprehensive international sanctions against Pyongyang as well as the banks, businesses, and countries that facilitate North Korean nuclear and missile proliferation. The U.S. should also work with its allies toward a comprehensive integrated missile defense network in Asia.  What steps should the U.S. take to handle North Korea's latest provocation? Find out here.

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