“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”

-Isaac Asimov

"Today is only one day in all the days that will ever be. But what will happen in all the other days that ever come can depend on what you do today. It's been that way all this year. It's been that way so many times. All of war is that way."

- Ernest Hemingway

“Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.”

- Henry David Thoreau

The launch came three days after the failed test of an intercontinental ballistic missile as the regime ramps up provocations with the approaching inauguration of South Korean President Yoon Seok-youl.

A Daily NK source in the North Korean military said Friday that Ri’s return represented the biggest pardon granted during North Korea’s springtime holiday period. He said within the military, people believe Ri was more severely rebuked than normal because he had been a close “comrade” and “brother-in-arms” of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ever since the latter was just a successor-in-waiting 10 years ago, but has now been restored to a high position.

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His sudden appearance on a major stage 10 months after his sacking has drawn global attention. When he appeared right next to Kim Jong Un during the military parade on the night of Apr. 25, he was wearing the insignia of a field marshal on his shoulders.

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Initially, the absence of reporting the missile launches was believed to have to do with their failures because another attempted missile launch ended in apparent failure, March 16, and its state-run media outlet did not report the event.

However, as the North Korean regime did not report the SLBM, there has been growing speculation that there is another reason for its silence.

There is something in common in the recent two missile launches. Both of the missile launches were declared successful by the country, so they are regarded as tests to reinforce the weapons. In other words, under its five-year military plan, the launches are part of its process to modernize its weapons.

Internally, this information may not be news to deliver urgently to the North Korean people, and externally, it is seen as its determination to go its own way without considering neighboring countries such as China and Russia, as well as the United States.

However, Cheong Seong-chang, the director of the Center for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute, said the absence may have to do with Beijing's pressure on Pyongyang to not ratchet up tensions on the peninsula.

"North Korea's recent failure to expose its missile launches is likely due to pressure from China, which does not want to escalate military tensions on the Korean Peninsula and thereby worsen South Korea-China relations," Cheong said.

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Described by colleagues as both feisty and gregarious, Yoon ran on a ticket to fight corruption and create a more level economic playing field, while seeking a tougher line on North Korea. His appointment to prosecutor-general in 2019 came after more than two decades in the legal service, jailing many across the national political spectrum for corruption.

What is new is that since the invasion, experts like Lankov have been asking whether North Korea would consider an invasion of the South again -- more than seven decades after its invasion in 1950 sparked the Korean War. 

That question has for years been dismissed out of hand. Most experts still see the changes as negligible, but the fact it is even being discussed is noteworthy.

"North Koreans are probably dreaming again about something that (they) used to take seriously, but in recent decades nearly forgot. That is conquest of the South," Lankov said.

For now, the idea seems fanciful. But the future is another matter.

"Maybe, just maybe, the American President of the year 2045 or 2055 will not risk San Francisco in order to save Seoul," Lankov said. "(By then) North Koreans could use ICBMs, maybe nuclear armed submarines to (terrify) Americans, to blackmail Americans out of the conflict."