After eighteen months of unusual calm, North Korea finally launched missiles on May 4 and May 9 of 2019. It was somewhat expected that North Korea would resume its military provocations after the breakdown of the second US-North Korea summit in February as compensation for the failure and a gambit for the next negotiation. However, North Korea’s ballistic missile provocations are a new threat to South Korea, which has no means to defend itself. On top of that it is becoming a real worrisome challenge to South Korea’s national security because of the lethargic responses of the South Korean and US governments.

As of early June, the South Korean and US governments have not officially provided detailed information on the North Korean missiles. South Korean government officials just reiterate that the projectiles are “short range” missiles and refuse to confirm whether they are a new type of ballistic missile or not. As usual, the Trump administration’s evaluation of North Korean missiles is inconsistent. On May 24, John Bolton, the White House National Security Advisor, characterized the North Korean weapon tests as short-range ballistic missiles and a violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions. On May 29, Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan agreed with Mr. Bolton that North Korea’s recent missile tests are a violation of United Nations resolutions.. However, President Trump expressed a very different view of North Korea’s missiles on his Twitter on May 25, saying “North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me.” He already mentioned on May 12 that it is not “a breach of trust.”