North Korea is on the course to be able to field a reliable, nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as early as next year, according to a confidential report from the Defense Intelligence Agency, per The Washington Post. This prediction now matches more closely the revised estimations coming from South Korea.
Why it matters: That jumps the timeline forward by two full years and ramps up the pressure on the U.S. and regional allies to halt North Korean progress. Kent Boydston, a research analyst at the Petersen Institute for International Economics, told Axios this will likely make the U.S. calls for isolating North Korea financially stronger. Boydston added that this will "make any kind of South Korea to North Korea engagement increasingly unlikely."
According to Reuters. the two firms join Alibaba, Tencent and others in the financing, which is designed to add resources to the previously state-owned mobile firm. All the parties declined comment to Reuters or did not respond to requests for comment, as did a representative of the Chinese government unit that oversees state-owned companies.
Why it matters: Mobile is the driving force for China's e-commerce and Internet companies; therefore it's in their collective interest to have strong competition and investment in mobile networks.
