North Korea Threatens to “Start World War III” to US. What is the real reason?

On the morning of the 12th of last month, the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) arrived at the Busan operational base. The Reagan and other U.S. carrier strike groups stayed in Busan until the 16th of last month, after conducting a two-day maritime blockade training and anti-piracy training with our navy and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in the southeastern waters of Jeju Island on the 9th and 10th. Yonhap News

North Korea has been making continuous war threats in response to the military cooperation between the U.S., South Korea, and Japan. As the U.S.’s attention is drawn to the Middle East due to the Israel-Palestine war, North Korea is interpreted as trying to redirect the U.S.’s attention to itself by escalating nuclear threats in Northeast Asia. It also seems that the Kim Jong-un regime is creating excuses for potential military provocations against the U.S., South Korea, and Japan in the future.

The North Korean Rodong Sinmun claimed on the 5th about the military cooperation between the U.S., South Korea, and Japan, “It has entered a very dangerous stage,” and “It is bringing confrontation and war to the Korean Peninsula and the region.” It also threatened, “Who can guarantee that it will not lead to the outbreak of nuclear war and the expansion of World War III?” On the 4th, North Korea also took a stance on security threats by reporting an article by self-proclaimed international issues critic Kim Myung-chul through the Korean Central News Agency. In the article, Kim Myung-chul threatened that the military cooperation between the U.S., South Korea, and Japan is a “potential factor that can plunge the situation on the Korean Peninsula into uncontrollable conditions.” He also argued that “It is reasonable to predict that if the situation on the Korean Peninsula worsens following Ukraine and the Middle East, the U.S. will have to bear a strategic burden that is difficult to resolve.”

In response to this, Professor Park Won-gon of the North Korean Studies Department at Ewha Womans University said, “North Korea has been criticizing the UN Security Council from the second half of this year and highlighting U.S. responsibility in the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Palestine war.” He diagnosed, “Although they carried out frequent missile provocations until the first half of this year, they seem to be focusing on diplomatic propaganda as they cannot handle it.”

Our military authorities are preparing for the possibility that North Korea may soon carry out military provocations. In particular, North Korea is likely to carry out a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) again, using the reattempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite-carrying space rocket, which failed before, as an excuse to break the U.S. alliance and U.S.-South Korea-Japan security cooperation. In fact, North Korea designated November 18, 2022, when it carried out a test launch of the ICBM Hwasong-17, as ‘Missile Industry Day’.