Supremely Psychopathic

"The power of [the] explosion is believed to be twice as large as the fourth test, which makes me believe it [North Korea] finally succeeded with the miniaturization."
"[If Friday's test was the success North Korea claims, it will] soon be heading toward developing a hydrogen bomb, and if so, a device with a bitter impact."
Park Jiyoung, senior research fellow, science and technology policy program, Asan Institute for Policy Studies, Seoul 

"[The test] confirmed the structure and specific features of movement of nuclear warhead that has been standardized to be able to be mounted on strategic ballistic missiles."
"The standardization of the nuclear warhead will enable the DPRK to produce at will and as many as it wants [of] a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power."
Korean Central News Agency

"By carrying out repeated tests, they want to show the world that their nuclear capability is growing."
"But it's hard to know how far they are able to miniaturize the bombs and make them into warheads."
Tetsuo Kotani, senior research fellow, Japan Institute of Affairs, Tokyo

The experts are cautious in their approach to analyzing what is felt to be known, what is hypothesized, and what has been witnessed at a remove, but which sensitive diagnostic equipment has categorized and human intelligence agency has synthesized and posited. There has always been a tendency to downplay the urgency and seriousness of Kim Jong-un's bellicosity in his hostile address to the global community.

There can be no mislabelling of his aspirational intentions, but because he presents as such an absurd- appearing caricature, sane and level minds tend to dismiss him as a buffoon given to hyperbole as he struts the world stage from his cloistered kingdom, even while he whips the scientific minds at his disposal as the country's supreme despot assigned by a higher ideological and mystic power to pose as a world leader of a militarized nation.

There is not a scintilla of care in this man's psyche for the common good nor the common man. Born and bred to entitlement of a dynasty believing itself to be appointed by the heavens above, Kim views himself as impervious to criticism, common sense or concern for the common weal -- his own self-perceived status is as the world leader in all matters military leading to world upheaval where he sees himself subjugating his critics through the weapons advances no one believes he can achieve, yet he does -- imbuing him with supreme confidence.

The historical fact of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the dread, well-documented consequences is sloughed off, if his mind ever lingers on the immensely destructive power he intends to unleash. If, after all, the United States, his great nemesis, saw fit to destroy tens of thousands of lives of innocent people in its combat zone of vengeance against Pearl Harbour and imperial Japan's own plan of conquest, he could go them one better. And this is the trajectory that most pleases him.

Boasting of his regime's mounting of nuclear warheads on rockets, North Korea's fifth test of nuclear power on Friday was sufficiently powerful to influence his critics, expert in the field of such weaponry to raise their eyebrows and concede the ambition of the possible. Each of the nuclear tests that have shocked the world community have a shorter interregnum between them. Progress is surprisingly swift.

The Friday nuclear explosion precipitated a tremblor with a magnitude of 5.3, more powerful and larger than the previous, fourth test in January with its 5.1 tremblor effect. South Korea's defence ministry identified the fourth explosive force at 6 kilotons and the more recent fifth, at ten. Several years ago the absurdly named Democratic People's Republic of Korea, sent a satellite into orbit. The magnitude of the cost involved in all of this is staggering.

Staggering also is the impecunious state that diverts such massive treasury sums toward achieving weapons superiority at the cost of feeding its citizenry, leading to generations of stunted growth for the mass of the population whom their glorious leader feels should be able to get by on subsistence calories for the greater glory of the nation. The toss-up between weapons or food is a no-contest decision on the part of Dear Leader. His subjects adore him in any event -- or else.

And nothing pleases Dear Leader quite so much as successes, one after another, of his plans to demonstrate the capacity and capability of North Korea's engineering prowess in fashioning powerful weapons of awful destruction; each of these successes represents a tantrum that has culminated in the reward of confounding critics and exhilarating the supreme psychopath and the cadre of minor psychopaths who do his supreme bidding.