North Korea's Toys
The NoKo's new superhappy fun device is a rip off of an old russian-designed killer rocket:

from Jane's

North Korea deploy new missiles

By Joseph S Bermudez JDW Special Correspondent Colorado

Emerging reports indicate that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea - DPRK) is developing-- and is in the process of deploying--at least two new ballistic missile systems.

The first is a land-based road-mobile medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM)/intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with an estimated range of 2,500-4,000km. The second is a companion submarine or ship-mounted ballistic missile system with a range of at least 2,500km. Both systems appear to be based on the decommissioned Soviet R-27 (NATO: SS-N-6) submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).

The R-27 is a single-stage, liquid-propellant SLBM that became operational in the Soviet Navy during 1968. It weighs 14,200kg and is 9.65m in length, with a diameter of 1.5m and a range of 2,500km. The original version carried a single nuclear re-entry vehicle (RV), while the later R-27U carried three RVs, each with a 200kT payload.

It is believed that the R-27 technology originated with personnel from the VP Makeyev Design Bureau in Miass, Chelyabinsk. A group of 20 missile specialists from the bureau was detained in December 1992 as they were attempting to depart for the DPRK.

What made this incident so significant was that this design bureau specialised in the design of Soviet SLBMs and had developed the R-27

I see. The US is pre-occupied, the russians are possibly upset about the scrapping of the ABM treaty and really want to mess with the US. I do not believe that even at 2500KM that the NoKo's could do anything other than hit the archipelago of the Aleutian Islands.

Kill some Kodiak bears = annihilation for NoKo

Very interesting....anyways, I cannot believe that Russian would want to do this. The NoKo leadership is not exactly 'mentally stable' and given the fact that they trade openly with arab terrorists=chechnya=trouble for Moscow, this could be a problem in the future.

How far is Chechnya from Moscow? About 2500Km?