Finally: Kim Jong Un has *not made any commitment not to test SLBMs*. They wouldn’t start off testing from this sub, which is very much not ready for sea. Likely, we’d see an underwater pontoon ejection/partial flight/full flight test series.

Just in: official English translation of the KCNA release. Please note the appearance of the word “strategic” here, which #NorthKorea has been careful to omit from other military activity-related statements in 2018-2019. (It’s a rather unsubtle euphemism…

“...the submarine was designed and built to be capable of fully implementing the military strategic intention of the Party under various circumstances” — this means it’s designed to carry nuclear-capable ballistic missiles for strategic deterrence.

Two high resolution images released by KCNA of the new submarine. #NorthKorea

The official KCNA announcement of North Korea’s new submarine highlighted its imminent deployment and is littered with the term “strategic”. Based on that saddle size, it takes little imagination to think that means one thing and one thing only: nuclear weapons.

If you’re not a submarine/nuclear deterrence nerd, the one big thing to know about this demonstration is that, for the first time since the February 2018 military parade, North Korea is talking about and showing the world things related to its nuclear capabilities.…

That’s a pretty significant shift after ~18 months of superficial “denuclearization.” Remember last September when they went to the trouble of having a military parade without any nuclear-capable systems or missiles?

Can’t wait to hear Seoul and Washington talk about how North Korea’s new boomer launches “projectiles.”

#DPRK leader Kim Jong Un has "inspected a newly built submarine" and "its operational deployment is near at hand," reports KCNA.

Just in: official English translation of the KCNA release. Please note the appearance of the word “strategic” here, which #NorthKorea has been careful to omit from other military activity-related statements in 2018-2019. (It’s a rather unsubtle euphemism…

“...the submarine was designed and built to be capable of fully implementing the military strategic intention of the Party under various circumstances” — this means it’s designed to carry nuclear-capable ballistic missiles for strategic deterrence.

That’s a pretty significant shift after ~18 months of superficial “denuclearization.” Remember last September when they went to the trouble of having a military parade without any nuclear-capable systems or missiles?

Two high resolution images released by KCNA of the new submarine. #NorthKorea

Front page of the Rodong Sinmun:

China to Release New White Paper on National Defense: What to Expect https://t.co/C2XOkGmsjG

Syrian opposition: #Israel killed senior #Hezbollah officer near #Damascus https://t.co/PR8Khd2YgA

Likely Israeli operation cited by the JP btw- https://t.co/jeb5IdfE2P

With reference to this: https://t.co/GRvm9bkjPF

“Mr Trump, please stop this. Stop this shelling. Stop the killing of these innocent people,” says Rania Kisar, an American woman in Syria, in an emotional video. Standing in rubble, she asks US President Trump to help stop civilian deaths. https://t.co/gK93x4uT7e…

North Korea's Kim inspects new submarine, signals possible ballistic missile development https://t.co/eXmuurD5t2

BREAKING: South Korea says it has fired warning shots after Russian military planes intruded into South Korea's airspace https://t.co/N2p62icF69