7th Fleet Focus: When Submarines Became Unstoppable

The Weekly Standard has an article a few weeks ago with a prediction we have all heard before, specifically that North Korea is on the verge of collapse.

Intelligence sources and other observers both here in the capital of the PRC and elsewhere in Asia are stating that they project a possible collapse of the North Korean regime within six months time.

You can read the article yourself and decide, we've seen this before and will wait and see, although we admit we are observing something not seen before that we believe could be a sign of trouble ahead. The article goes into details regarding the number of people fleeing the country. Specifically, only 41 North Koreans were able to reach the South in 1995, but the rate of those escaping has grown each year including last year when the total reached 2,000.

This was further highlighted recently in the Washington Post, which describes the underground railroad leading out of North Korea. At the heart of the matter is corruption, but soldiers aren't doing much better than citizens anymore, so corruption is hard for the regime to fight.

Note the number of people fleeing by sea. We have been noting an increase in the number of North Koreans looking to escape by boat. Why the increase you might ask? Because their Navy is done, the coast guard can't patrol anymore and the Navy rations to survive. They don't have any fuel left for patrolling a long coast line, instead sticking to the populated coastal areas.

It is why North Korea is complaining really loud about the presence of the USS Connecticut in South Korea last week. While the North Koreans have missiles against ships and aircraft, and soldiers to fight an enemy army, North Korea can't field the required equipment at sea anymore to deal with submarines. Against North Korea, submarines have become unstoppable.