The Pacific Ocean did not reflect its name on the sky above it, for satellite footage is enough to overturn the calmness of the clamor that reverberates in the halls of international councils.
As the year 2022 enters its middle, North Korea has managed, over a period of 6 months, to establish the pillars of its originally reserved seat in the arena of nuclear conflict, with the number of test missiles launched since the beginning of the year reaching the threshold of 33 test missiles.
In a country grappling with a stifling economic situation, deepened by the outbreak of the Corona virus, President Kim Jong Un has spent up to $650 million on his missile launches, at a cost of $30 million for each ICBM.
As for the short-range missiles, each cost $5 million, which is about half the estimated costs of what Russia spends on its similar missiles.
North Korea fired eight short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Sunday, the day after South Korea and the United States concluded their first joint exercises.
The launch also came after a visit to Seoul by the US official in charge of North Korea affairs, Sung Kim, who left Saturday.
The US special representative met his South Korean counterparts Kim Jong Un and Japan's Funakoshi Takehiro on Friday to prepare for "all emergencies" amid indications that North Korea is preparing to conduct a nuclear test for the first time since 2017.
During the visit, Kim said that Washington had made it clear to Pyongyang that it was open to diplomacy, indicating that he was ready to discuss items of concern to North Korea, such as easing sanctions.
The United States called last week for more United Nations sanctions against North Korea over its ballistic missile launches, but China and Russia objected to the proposal, publicly splitting the UN Security Council over the isolated country for the first time since it began punishing it in 2006, when it conducted Pyongyang has its first nuclear test.
North Korea's decades-old propaganda machine has justified the exorbitant military expenditures as necessary to prevent a US invasion and preserve the unique culture of its people.
North Korea's sanctions-hit economy is now smaller than it was when Kim took power, according to South Korean banking estimates.
The United Nations World Food Program, which has been operating in North Korea for years, has said about 40 percent of the population is malnourished.
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- Agencies