In the wake of North Korea’s continuous demonstrations of its progress in missile and nuclear technology development since the start of this year, it has become apparent that the sanctions, imposed earlier, have not precluded North Korea in achieving noticeable results in nuclear armament.

However, will the unprecedentedly harsh sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council, as well as unilateral ones by several countries succeed in forcing the nation’s leadership to abandon any further provocations? The short answer seems to be a negative, as Kim Jong Un, during the Seventh Party Congress, hailed the missile and nuclear programs’ successes as “landmarks in the nation’s history spanning 5,000 years,” and officially declared the Byungjin line as the strategic course of the part.