North Korea proves impervious to the VSG's attempts at patty-cake

 Kim - who, by the way, proved once again that speculation stemming from his occasional absences from the spotlight that he might have been incapacitated or died is off the mark - may write beautiful letters to buffoons in order to stroke their egos and buy time, but made unequivocally clear that the real agenda has nothing to do with summits, letters and other place-holding gestures, but rather this kind of thing:

North Korea unveiled what analysts believe to be one of the world's largest ballistic missiles at a military parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Workers' Party broadcast on state-run television on Saturday.

The massive weapon was carried by an 11-axle truck at the climax of the almost two-hour ceremony and military parade in the capital of Pyongyang.

Analysts said the new missile is not known to have been tested, but a bigger weapon would allow North Korea to put multiple warheads on it, increasing the threat it would pose to any targeted foe.

"Largest *road-mobile* liquid-fueled missile anywhere, to be clear," tweeted Ankit Panda, senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

"Liquid fuel, Huuuuge, capable of carrying MIRV nuclear warheads," tweeted Melissa Hanham, deputy director of Open Nuclear Network at Stanford University.

"What North Korea has shown us, what appears to be a new liquid-fueled ICBM that seems to be a derivative of what was tested back in late 2017, known as the Hwasong-15, is much bigger and clearly more powerful than anything in the DPRK's arsenal," said Harry Kazianis, senior director of Korean studies at the Washington DC-based Center for the National Interest.

North Korea can now hit North America with multiple warheads in one strike.

And the Supreme Leader was one proud tyrant:

Speaking before the tanks and missiles rolled by, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touted his country's military and said it was there to defend the people.

"We will continue to strengthen war deterrence as a means of self-defense," Kim said. 

"Our war deterrence will never be abused or used preemptively, which will contribute to protecting the sovereignty and survival of the country and pursuing regional peace," he said.

"However, if anyone hurts the national safety or threaten to use military force against us, I will preemptively mobilize all of our strongest offensive forces to punish them," Kim said.

And it appears that the hermit kingdom understands that its stooge in the White House may be an ephemeral partner in patty cake. No matter; summits and letters were merely the tactic that worked best over the last four years. NK was willing to bide its time during the Agreed Framework, the Six-Way Talks and the era of strategic patience. None of it has any effect on the long-term pursuit of the Kim dynasty's aims.