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North Korea’s launch of a missile from a naval destroyer last week was proof, leader Kim Jong-un said, that arming ships with nuclear weapons was “making satisfactory progress”.
But the test was designed to reverberate well beyond the deck of the biggest warship in North Korea’s fleet.
Kim’s pointed reference to nuclear weapons was made as the US and Israel continued their air bombardment of Iran – a regime Donald Trump had warned, without offering evidence, was only weeks away from having a nuclear weapon.
The widening war in the Middle East – and the existential threat to the Iranian regime – has likely reinforced North Korea’s decision to build a nuclear arsenal.
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