Markus Garlauskas, the former US National Intelligence Officer for North Korea and nonresident senior fellow with the Asia Security Initiative, was quoted on his remarks during a virtual seminar at the United States Institute for Peace by Yonhap Newson September 10, 2020. He argued that North Korea appears to be ready to resume its nuclear and weapons testing in the near future, calling it “probably just a matter of time,” given that the Kim Jong-un has personally made it clear that the North is no longer bound by its earlier pledges not to test nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Another big element we need to think about is that additional weapons testing is probably just a matter of time…North Korean state media has been very clear that Kim has threatened that there’s going to be a new strategic weapon reveal, and that he no longer feels bound by his previous pledges not to test ICBMs and nuclear weapons…And so if you take all those assessments, it paints a pretty, pretty unpleasant picture.
