Bangladesh, Dec. 27 -- Few countries in the world have been subjected to ridicule as much as North Korea. The mainstream propaganda machine regularly presents it as a supposedly “backward society”, especially in terms of technological development. And yet, in reality, Pyongyang is ahead of the entire political West (the United States included) in critical technologies such as hypersonic weapons. Namely, much unlike the Pentagon, North Korea actually fields these missiles, while the former is still struggling to induct such weapons into service.

However, certain technologies still require decades to master. This is particularly true for nuclear-powered submarines. Only a handful of countries operate these vessels, including th...