In a video where he supervises the most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile test for five years, the North Korean leader means that he is perfecting his arsenal without worrying about sanctions and promises of denuclearization.
Be careful, Volodymyr Zelensky better watch out. In the war of images of the moment, the iconic Ukrainian president who sits on the screens in a khaki t-shirt, dark circles in his eyes and unshaven cheeks, has found himself an unexpected competitor in Asia in recent hours. And he’s no rookie: Kim Jong-un himself. In a Hollywood and slow motion video, the North Korean leader appears in a leather jacket, dark glasses and a hairless face.
The moment is important, if not solemn. Kim must announce the news, be in the center of the image, framed by two braids: from Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, North Korea will test a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), last generation , the Hwasong-17. Not since November 2017 and the moratorium it had imposed on itself in the midst of a verbal war with the United States, had the North fired such a powerful machine, at long range, with the risk of a significant escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
monster and lair
Jerky and sequenced images, cut and tight shots, high-pitched music, the beast is nestled in a dark shed. Kim looks at his watch, the soldiers imitate him. Martial suspense and booming action movie. The situation is serious. Back to the dial, to the concentrated faces. This time it’s good. Kim takes off her glasses and nods her head. The ballistic monster can emerge from its lair, perched on a 22-wheel truck, preceded by the Supreme Leader who accompanies the missile as it guides the nation. In a few minutes, bursts of echoing commands (fire-fire-fire-fire!) will fire.
The grandiloquent staging smells a little like mothballs. Kim Jong-un went to a good school: his father, Kim Jong-il, said he was a cinephile, a lover of foreign films and actors (he had some removed in the 1970s), a director in his spare time, concerned to develop North Korean cinema. But that is not essential. In the eyes of the authorities, this video makes it possible to say that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has “finalized a new ICBM as a reliable nuclear war deterrent,” according to state media commentary.
show of strength
In the midst of the Ukrainian crisis, the very day when Biden, the Europeans, the Japanese met in Brussels to strengthen their response to the Russian invasion, Pyongyang did not hesitate to draw its Hwasong-17 and to cross a new level. Kim Jong-un would have liked to remember the good memories of Americans and hated Japanese neighbors, he probably wouldn’t have done it any other way. A shot, a propaganda video and the “supreme ruler” North Korean means the little credit it gives to the sanctions regimes against North Korea. Since the beginning of the year, he has multiplied the shootings and the tests, while his country is hit by the health crisis and that South Korea is in full presidential transition. And he offered himself the luxury of deciding for himself the end of a moratorium that he had imposed on himself. It’s called a show of force.
Sign of the importance of the moment and the launch, Ri Chun-hee the historical star presenter, and oracle-harbinger of great news (good or bad), was mobilized for the occasion. And if Kim appears more than ever as the conductor of the shooting, it is to underline the fact that he supervised it. And, as with the previous trial in November 2017, photos were released by state media showing him signing the firing order.
Pyongyang has undeniably taken a step forward. During this controlled bell flight, in particular to perfect the technique of re-entry into the atmosphere, the Hwasong-17 reached an altitude of 6200 kilometers and traveled 1090 kilometers. This is much more than in 2017. For five years, North Korea has been perfecting its ballistic arsenal on land, at sea, in the air. The “complete and verifiable denuclearization” years Trump is no longer on the discussion table. More than ever, we must reckon with North Korea and not forget the threat it represents. In the middle of the war in Ukraine, it’s a booster shot. Who deserved a video.