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USA Today reports that under the watchful eyes of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea says it has conducted an underwater test-firing of a submarine ballistic missile. Kim called the missile a "world-level strategic weapon" and an "eye-opening success." Although American officials had suspected North Korea was developing such a missile system, the country had not previously claimed to have conducted a test launching. The test, if confirmed, would pose a new challenge to the United States and its regional allies, South Korea and Japan, which have been trying to build missile defense capabilities to guard against potential North Korean missile attacks.
The news of a successful test-fire was most likely a surprise to South Korean military officials, who have privately told reporters that they believed it would take years for the North to develop such a submarine-launched ballistic missile. "North Korea's development of a submarine-launched missile capability would eventually expand Pyongyang's threat to South Korea, Japan and U.S. bases in East Asia" says Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. "Submarines carrying land-attack missiles would be challenging to locate and track, would be mobile assets able to attack from any direction, and could operate at significant distances from the Korean peninsula."
See also: BBC, Reuters, The Guardian, Washington Post.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Thexalon on Sunday May 10 2015, @03:14PM
I don't think Kim Jong Un is crazy.
Kim Jong Un always makes these very public proposals of attack plans that are utterly ludicrous. Anyone with sense knows that North Korea is not capable of launching an amphibious assault on Texas, for example. His weapons and computers are state of the art for 1975. Kim Jong Un is a western-educated guy who showed no signs of being nuts prior to coming to power, so why would he do that knowing full well it makes him look like an idiot?
There's a logical answer: His government remains in power so long as the illusion of them being permanently at war with the West is maintained - otherwise, the citizens would never tolerate the starvation that's been going on for so long. In addition, Kim Jong Un puts out these kinds of plans to convince the generals that have the same kind of attitude as Buck Turgidson that he's serious while not actually attacking anybody or even threatening attack seriously enough to induce the US to pre-emptively attack North Korea. If Kim Jong Un doesn't steadfastly maintain both of those illusions, he will be killed (either by an angry mob, or by the army).
If that analysis of his situation is correct, his plan then becomes:
1. Wait for the old guard of generals who were loyal to his father and grandfather to die. They're his greatest threat. Replace them with people loyal to himself.
2. Quietly shift the focus from the military to civilian efforts. Particularly focus on how to increase the food supply. That will win him the support of the population.
3. Once he's dealt with those threats, slowly open up his country to travel, particularly with the South.
About the only assets Kim Jong Un really has in internal power struggles is his name and the fact that he's at least 30 years younger than anybody else with real power. This kind of plan uses both of them to remain alive and in power as long as possible.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Sunday May 10 2015, @08:51PM
Nice dream, but it won't happen that way. By the time the old guard dies off Un will have grown comfortable with his total power. He put his own uncle to death for pete sake. He isn't playing some waiting game.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 10 2015, @09:43PM
You are probably right about getting comfortable if being raised the way he was has not warped him to begin with.
But you can draw precisely zero conclusions from the killing of his uncle.
We have absolutely no idea what was going on behind the scenes. For all we know Dear Uncle was in the process of staging a coup. The guy might not even be dead. Remember the ex-girlfriend who was executed nominally for making porn? Turns out she is not dead after all. [telegraph.co.uk]