Kim Jong Un wants the world to know he still matters. Seven missile tests in a month may prove it

Seven North Korean missile tests in January 2022 suggest the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, wants to show that in an increasingly turbulent world Pyongyang still matters.

According to analysts, seven North Korean missile tests in the first four weeks of 2022 suggest the country's leader, Kim Jong Un, is both striving to meet domestic goals and show an increasingly turbulent world that Pyongyang remains a player in the struggle for power and influence.

"By threatening to destabilize Asia while global resources are stretched thin elsewhere, Pyongyang is demanding the world pay it to act like a 'responsible nuclear power,'" said Leif-Eric Easley, associate professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea.