(HorizonPost.com) – North Korea has been under the thumb of a totalitarian “Supreme Leader” since the peninsula split following World War II. The last three rulers have come from the same family, the current being Kim Jong-un. By many accounts, it’s a rogue nation expending much effort to create a nuclear bomb and the long-range missiles needed to carry it to its target. This is why North Korea’s confirmation of a missile test on October 18 has generated much concern around the world.
Monday’s missile launch forms part of a pattern of provocations by the #DPRK. France, along with Ireland and Estonia, strongly condemns it and urges North Korea to comply fully with Security Council Resolutions.https://t.co/gZLRPXD68C pic.twitter.com/CQ7C5jd9ry
— Nicolas de Rivière (@NDeRiviere) October 20, 2021
Under the command of Kim, the North Korean military will, on an irregular basis, lob a ballistic missile into the ocean just to remind South Korea and Japan they have the means to take a war to their shores. One thing making this latest show of aggression more ominous is it marks a return to the regime’s use of a submarine to launch the projectile, which has been a rare feat for the North in the past.
According to Al Jazeera, the North Korean state-run news source claims this is a new type of Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) equipped with “gliding skip mobility,” meaning it can change its trajectory mid-flight, making it more difficult to track. Dave Schmerler, an expert in North Korea’s missile and nuclear program, sees the test as an interesting development but nothing to panic over because it seems the oppressive government has only one submarine capable of launching them, and then only one or two at a time.
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