Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/AP
The headlines blare out the fears that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un might fire a “tactical nuclear warhead” on targets in South Korea or maybe Japan. It’s not at all clear how much death and destruction a “tacnuke” would inflict. Like any other weapon, they come in different sizes and ranges, but any of them could probably wipe out a few thousand troops. Then there would be the fallout that would endanger the lives of thousands more people over a broad area, always at the mercy of wind currents.
Now, however, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, proud though he is of his nukes, is showing off another much easier way to threaten the South. On Wednesday, he unleashed 250 cannon shots—seen as his primary weapon of choice rather than missiles and tactical nukes—into “maritime buffer zones” off the east and west coasts after South Korea launched more military exercises that the South’s conservative president, Yoon Suk-yeol, believes are essential for defense against the North.
Just to make sure South Korea got the message, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency quoted a military spokesman saying, “Our Army strongly warns the enemy forces to immediately stop the highly irritating provocative act in the frontline areas.”