North Korea Looks to the Future

North Korea's High-Tech Military
Guard Tower on Banks of Yalu River
Photo by Jacky Chen, Reuters
Chicago Tribune

Everyone knows that "A picture is worth a thousand words," so take a close look at the photo above. Either North Korean scientists have advanced their military technology so far that they've developed invisible binoculars, or . . . they haven't, and that soldier's using his hands as make-believe binoculars, like I used to do as a kid. Such fantasy binoculars would fit well with the North's description of its military's ability to deliver a "sledgehammer blow" to its enemies and of its supposed nuclear capability as a "treasured sword." I can just visualize the North's army peering at the enemy through imaginary binoculars as its soldiers prepare to rush forward into battle armed with sledgehammers and swords!

I found the above image in the Chicago Tribune, accompanied by the article from which I drew the expressions "sledgehammer blows" and "treasured sword" ("North Korea demands end of sanctions if U.S. wants dialogue," April 18, 2013), but the photo there has been changed, so go here instead.

The North's military, of course, is not truly to be laughed at, not when it has over ten thousand artillery pieces aimed at Seoul . . .