The Futility of 'Shows of Strength' Against North Korea

These demonstrations are not cost-free and could easily come back to bite the U.S. and South Korea in the not-so-distant future.

North Korea’s response to the latest U.S. “show of strength” is a useful reminder of how pointless these exercises are:

North Korea fired several cruise missiles shortly after a U.S. nuclear submarine deployed as a show of strength against Pyongyang’s threats left the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea has been conducting a number of missile tests in recent weeks, including another ICBM test, and it has been doing this in direct response to demonstrations of U.S. military power in the vicinity. The visits of the USS Michigan, USS Kentucky, and now the USS Annapolis have all served to reminder the North Koreans that the U.S. possesses a large submarine fleet, and that this fleet includes nuclear-armed submarines. Far from impressing or intimidating North Korea into quiescence, it predictably led to North Korea engaging in its own “shows of strength” to prove just how unintimidated they are.