Rocket Man Is at It Again

"Rocket Man," as President Trump dubbed Kim Jong Un in 2017, is at it again. North Korea fired on Monday. It was the second launch in nine days, one missile flew more than 900 kilometers, and Pyongyang's explanation was that it was just doing its regular work. Americans should not shrug.

What happened

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Oct. 12. One missile launched from the Pyongyang area flew more than 900 kilometers, about 559 miles, according to the Joint Chiefs, which did not say how many missiles it detected.

Japan's deputy defense minister, Takashi Koyari, said at least two missiles were launched 17 minutes apart and landed outside Japan's exclusive economic zone. U.S. Pacific Command said North Korea launched two ballistic missiles and that the event did not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel, territory or allies. No damage was reported. South Korea's SBS counted it as North Korea's 16th ballistic missile launch of the year.

North Korea's state news agency, KCNA, said on Tuesday that its Missile Administration "test-fired a tactical ballistic missile on October 12 to confirm the success in the research for the technical upgrading of an important core element," and called the upgrade a big success.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs called the launch a show of force. It came four days after South Korea made public its first test of a domestically developed hypersonic glide vehicle, and nine days after North Korea's Oct. 3 launch, which KCNA described as a hypersonic intermediate-range missile test overseen by Kim Jong Un that struck a target about 1,000 kilometers away. South Korea's presidential office said the repeated launches violate United Nations Security Council resolutions and called for an immediate halt.

The take

Kim Jong Un is not testing missiles to pass the time. Every launch teaches his engineers something about range, guidance and how to beat the radars of South Korea, Japan and the United States. Pyongyang's own statement says the point was to upgrade "an important core element." That is the part that should worry Washington. North Korea has spent years working on faster and more maneuverable missiles, and the whole point of those weapons is to make missile defense less reliable.

The pattern is also political. North Korea answered a South Korean weapons test within days. It has fired repeatedly this year while the world's attention has been on the Middle East. Pyongyang knows that crises elsewhere stretch American attention and resources, and it is reminding everyone that it is still here.

The right response is the one that has worked before: strength first. That means keeping American forces in the region ready, investing in missile defenses that can handle maneuvering threats, and keeping Japan and South Korea close. Our allies in Seoul and Tokyo are the front line, and they are building their own capabilities. That is good for them and good for us.

Diplomacy has a place. President Trump has shown he is willing to talk to Kim, and talking is not weakness. But Kim has said he will not meet unless Washington drops its demand for denuclearization. America should not pay for a meeting with concessions that make a nuclear-armed North Korea permanent. Talks can only work when Pyongyang believes that the alternative is worse.

Monday's launch was routine, North Korea says. That is exactly the problem. A regime that treats ballistic missile tests as routine is a regime that intends to keep building until it can threaten American cities. Our defenses need to stay a step ahead.