Experts are scratching their heads, trying to figure out what exactly Kim Jong Un wants and how far he will go. There’s general consensus that he wants, like all dictators, to strengthen his hold on power and to secure the support of the military.
But he is accomplishing more than that. North Korea is giving its crucial weapons industry a huge boost of publicity. Every headline is a Super Bowl-size ad for the country’s destructive wares.
Current and future clients may have noticed that its arsenal has allowed North Korea to get away with creating these crises, which fortify the regime and sometimes even bring generous international aid. Without its dangerous arsenal, it’s unlikely Pyongyang would have gotten away with the 2010 shelling of Yeonpyeong island, when it killed two South Korean marines and three civilians, sent the population fleeing in panic and set homes and forests on fire.
Despite South Korea’s vow of “enormous retaliation,” the regime is still in place.
Not only is it still standing, it is spreading its deadly know-how.
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