North Korea’s successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on July 4, 2017, has rightfully occasioned concern and condemnation by the United States and others. Ruled for more than seven decades by the dynastic dictatorship of the Kim family, the so-called Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has, in recent years, made huge advances in nuclear weapons, missilery and cyber-warfare, with which it menaces the West and its allies.

Yet with tensions increasing on the Korean peninsula, policymakers should consider another threat emanating from Pyongyang: the regime’s well-trained and fanatical special operations forces (SOF).