North Korea flexes its strategic options

North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party

wrapped up a year-end plenary session of its all-important Central Committee

with a warning that it no longer considers the southern half of the Korean peninsula as a counterpart for reconciliation. The policy statement came after Pyongyang had

successfully sent into orbit, on the third try, a spy satellite

that gives it the ability to monitor military movements in its neighbourhood. This was followed by a launch of its most advanced intercontinental missile on Dec 18. The launches and the year-end statements on poor ties with the South attributed to no less than North Korean leader Kim Jong Un underscore that amid the various crises in Asia, the Korean peninsula remains an enduring worry.

Mr Kim, surprisingly resilient in power despite presiding over a crumbling economy and immiserated population, has tested dozens of ballistic missiles over the past two years, as he works on building a capacity to strike the mainland United States, and its close allies, with nuclear weapons. His widely reported move to ship ammunition to Russia to make up shortfalls caused by its war against Ukraine has bolstered his standing with both Moscow and, to an extent, Beijing, which would have been hard-pressed to decline if Russia had made a similar request to it directly. Mr Kim would have closed out 2023 also basking in the congratulatory letter

sent to him in July by Russian President Vladimir Putin,

on the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice.