| Responding to yesterday’s little mishap. |
[PJMEDIA] A Titanic Blunder For A Tinpot Regime
There's a poetic kind of justice when a dictatorship's propaganda parade ends as soggy scrap metal. North Korea
 ...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
, the Hermit Kingdom so fond of choreographed triumphs and goose-stepping grandeur, recently tried launching a 5,000-ton ''stealth'' destroyer, only to have it tip sideways into the sea like a child's bathtub toy.
This wasn't just a mishap. It was a symbolic faceplant: the world's most belligerent pariah state, fresh off a backroom weapons-for-bodies deal with Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...
, found its supposed symbol of strength literally sideways and broken. Karma, it seems, sometimes comes in the shape of a capsized hull.
TECH FOR BLOOD
Let's be clear: this was no ordinary ship launch. The Choe Hyon-class destroyer, which paraded in front of Supreme Leader Kim Pudge Jong-un
...the overweight, pouty-looking hereditary potentate of North Korea. Pudge appears to believe in his own divinity, but has yet to produce any loaves and fishes, so his subjects remain malnourished...
with all the spectacle of a coronation, was meant to showcase Pyongyang's leap in naval capability. And thanks to its recent transactional alliance with Russia, troops in exchange for military tech, it had every reason to expect smooth sailing.
According to multiple intelligence agencies, North Korea has been sending tens of thousands of troops, laborers, and munitions to Russia for the Ukrainian meat grinder. In return, Russia has reportedly handed over satellite surveillance systems, hypersonic missile guidance data, and advanced naval designs. Kim finally had a playbook from a major power, and this warship was to be Exhibit A.
Instead, the ship's stern slid prematurely into the water during its launch at the Chongjin Shipyard while the bow stuck on the slipway, sending the vessel lurching sideways like a drunk man leaving a bar.
The result: a crippled destroyer and a furious dictator who, after inspecting the wreck, reportedly arrested bigwigs and ordered an emergency internal investigation. There are whispers that the lead engineers may never see daylight again. 
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