As smoke rises from Iran’s nuclear facilities and Tehran counts its dead generals, the world can be sure that North Korea’s leader will be intensely watching the Middle East conflict from afar.

Kim Jong Un will likely draw several key lessons from the wreckage about the failure of Iran’s strategic nuclear ambiguity, seeing it as proof that he needs an operational nuclear arsenal to safeguard his regime against a similar fate.

The conflict will also harden his stance against nuclear negotiations and distrust of the U.S., pushing him further toward Russia