I've seen a lot of posts expressing surprise and shock that North Korea has developed its missile capabilities "out of the blue" and "without warning," and that the whole thing seems "suspicious" somehow. It's out of the blue only because you have to dig for useful coverage that's often buried in wonky journals that don't translate well to our media of choice, which increasingly seems to be liberal-leaning aggregators.
I found this article interesting and useful; this writer regularly does an excellent job of demystifying North Korea's actions and teasing out the odd logic behind them. There are people out there who analyze this stuff for a living. Find them and read them. It's important to understand how and why things are happening, and not succumb to conspiracies or despair.
http://thediplomat.com/2017/08/why-north-korea-is-planning-long-range-missile-flight-tests-over-japan-and-toward-guam/?utm_content=buffere8bd2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
On Thursday morning, hardly 48 hours after U.S. President Donald J. Trump first threatened “fire and fury” for continued threats, North Korea released an unusual statement through its state-run Korean Central News Agency.
(snip)
While Thursday’s statement was certainly unusual, it isn’t entirely out of the blue for North Korea. Analysts had suspected that Pyongyang might seek to conduct a full-range flight test, but it was always unclear if they would one day overfly Japan out of the blue. Now, it seems that Kim Jong-un has chosen to give the Japanese — and the Americans — sufficient notice of its intent.
Importantly, Thursday’s statement hinted at a launch date later this month, should Kim Jong-un give the order. Incidentally, the United States and South Korea will convene their annual Ulchi-Freedom Guardian military exercise soon, giving North Korea what it sees as sufficient cause to stage a developmental missile test that will also serve as a show of force.
Unsaid so far in this analysis is the matter of strategic escalation. Make no mistake: a salvo launch of four Hwasong-12 IRBMs within tens of kilometers of Guam would be the single most threatening direct action that North Korea would have ever taken against U.S. territory. That has serious implications for U.S. strategic decision-making, allied reassurance toward Tokyo, and even escalation.