Events in North Korea can be mind-numbingly predictable. Every day, the Rodong Sinmun publishes tedious articles praising the Kim regime and socialist system. Citizens lay flowers at altars to former leaders on major holidays. Various groups hold regular meetings and congresses in Pyongyang to discuss how to achieve state goals.

And yet despite this quotidian reality, the country also maintains a unique ability to surprise.

The DPRK military debuts a novel missile-basing strategy by firing a missile out of a submerged silo in an inland reservoir. State TV airs an over-the-top video about an intercontinental