"John Kerry plots course for first official trip; Expected to visit Europe, Israel, and possibly Egypt" by Bradley Klapper | Associated Press, February 12, 2013
WASHINGTON — Just hours before Kerry was sworn in to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton, militants provided a stark reminder of the inherent danger in American diplomacy as a suicide bomber struck the US Embassy in Turkey.
Another agenda-pushing false flag operation? Seriously, a Marxist?
And in the days since, Japan alleged that China locked weapons-targeting radar on a Japanese destroyer and helicopter amid an escalating maritime dispute between the Asian powers.
That is the FIRST I'VE SEEN of those tensions in my Boston Globe, and its buried in this piece.
Why am I even reading the Globe anymore? It's all superficial bulls*** while the real news is to be found on blogs.
Also see: Chinese Seize Japanese Islands
‘‘This is a complicated time in the world,’’ Kerry told a visiting group of college students in marked understatement on his third day at the State Department.
Thus far, he has spent most of his time to getting to know his staff and speaking to foreign leaders, and little time publicly talking geopolitics. He echoed the White House’s call last week for tougher European Union action against Hezbollah and decried Pyongyang’s threat of a third nuclear test.
They carried through today.
Just what we need.
And at his first official news conference Friday, he warned Iran to seriously approach upcoming nuclear talks with world powers and declared that the Obama administration was exploring new options — primarily diplomatic — to stem the violence in Syria.
I wish I could take him seriously.
--more--"
Related: Analysts assess N. Korea bluster
How many times can they get it wrong?
"North Korea says nuclear arms are not negotiation" by Choe Sang-Hun | New York Times, January 24, 2013
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Wednesday that its nuclear weapon program was no longer negotiable and indicated that it might conduct its third nuclear test to retaliate against the United Nations Security Council’s tightening of sanctions against the isolated yet highly militarized country.
Although it was not the first time North Korea issued such strident rhetoric, its posture, coming under the new leadership of Kim Jong Un, threw a direct challenge to President Obama as he starts his second term, and Park Geun-hye, who will be sworn in as South Korea president next month.
Related: The Iron Lady of Asia
And I had such high hopes.
After years of tensions with North Korea, both Obama and Park have said they were keeping the door open for talks with North Korea on the premise that such engagement should lead to an eventual dismantling of its nuclear arms program.
The North’s comments came as the United States reaffirmed its policy of punishing North Korea for moving toward the development of long-range missiles tipped with a nuclear warhead, spearheading international backing for a unanimous Security Council resolution Tuesday.
And you wonder why they don't like us and view us suspiciously?
--more--"
"North Korea threatens nuclear test" by Chico Harlan | Washington Post, January 25, 2013
SEOUL — North Korea threatened Thursday to carry out a nuclear test as part of an ‘‘all-out action’’ against the United States, which it called the ‘‘main player’’ behind recently adopted international sanctions.
We were the main player behind it.
In a statement published by Pyongyang’s state news agency and attributed to the National Defense Commission, the supreme military policymaking body, the North said Washington’s policy toward it had entered ‘‘a new dangerous phase.’’ Although an underground nuclear test would not directly threaten the United States, it would raise stakes for the Obama administration, which has failed to curtail the North’s weapons program despite a series of sanctions and short-lived attempts at dialogue.
Look, let's not create a crisis where we don't have to.
Intelligence specialists in Seoul and Washington have speculated for months that the secretive police state is preparing to conduct its third nuclear blast, based on satellite photos showing activity at the North’s test site. The North’s state news agency has also made several opaque references about bolstering its ‘‘nuclear deterrent.’’
But the statement Thursday was the clearest sign yet of its intentions, and it came with an unusually explicit focus on the United States, which it described as ‘‘the sworn enemy of the Korean people.’’ The North, in raising the prospect of another nuclear test, did not say when it might be carried out.
The North added that it would retaliate against the United States with ‘‘force, not with words, as it regards jungle law as the rule of its survival.’’ As part of this show of force, the North also pledged to launch a series of long-range rockets, similar to the one it sent into orbit last month, which prompted the toughened UN Security Council sanctions.
‘‘They have been hinting at [a nuclear test], I suppose, for some time,’’ said Glyn Davies, the Obama administration’s envoy for North Korea policy, who was in Seoul on Thursday. ‘‘We think that that would be a mistake, obviously. We call on North Korea, as does the entire international community, not to engage in any further provocations.’’
What do you call U.S.-South Korea war drills?
North Korea has spent decades as East Asia’s chief provocateur — developing weapons, launching rockets, making and breaking denuclearization deals, threatening all-out war — and analysts admit that its rhetoric can often feel repetitive. But the North, those analysts said, is indeed becoming more dangerous.
It's like reading an AmeriKan newspaper.
The rocket it sent into orbit on Dec. 12, according to South Korean analysis, was made largely with indigenous components and could be capable of reaching the United States.
I was told the rocket test pretty much failed.
Although North Korea hasn’t yet shown the ability to miniaturize a nuclear weapon enough to mount on a rocket, some security analysts said the country could hone such technology within several years. Scientists said that nuclear tests are essential for any country that wants to miniaturize its nuclear devices.
So no immediate threats even if they explode a bomb.
If the North conducts another nuclear test, it would lend new clues about the range of the North’s weapons material. North Korea’s first two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, both used plutonium, and the North — though it has idled its plutonium program — still has about 24 to 48 kilograms on hand, enough for between four to eight bombs, according to Siegfried Hecker, the former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Many intelligence specialists, though, speculate that the North is doing otherwise, and has additional, clandestine uranium facilities throughout the country.
A report last year from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, acknowledging the many unknowns, said the North could have enough weapons-grade uranium for anywhere from zero to 11 nuclear weapons.
The North has not yet conducted a nuclear test under supreme leader Kim Jong-un, who inherited power when his father, Kim Jong Il, died in December 2011. In state propaganda, the young Kim appears as a smiling man of the people, but in practice, he has doubled down on the strange brand of family-run brinksmanship — all while maintaining the surveillance networks and the labor camps where some 200,000 of his people are imprisoned.
Almost looks like the U.S., only better.
Following the North’s statement Thursday, China urged for calm from all involved parties, a familiar talking point from Pyongyang’s chief economic partner.
Yeah, China doesn't want any wars.
Another nuclear test would present a particular challenge for new Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his lieutenants, who are torn between supporting a key ally and maintaining international credibility.
Then the Chinese must have given him the okay, and probably view it as a good and indirect way of sending a signal to the AmeriKan empire given what is currently happening with Japan.
--more--"
Related:
Well, they did slap another set of sanctions on them at the insistence of the U.S.
Like what, invasion? Blowing the thing up is a likely attempt to forestall such a thing. The young leader and his administration has seen what happens to those who do not have nuclear weapons (think Iraq).
At least it got attention away from Iran.
I certainly don't believe that last part. I don't see how it could not have caused ecological damage no matter where they exploded it. If nothing else it jarred the tectonic plates of earth, and I would expect earthquakes to follow very soon.
Yeah, that's another thing that seems to be forgotten amongst the endless U.S. lecturing on atomic weapons: we are the ONLY NATION that has EVER USED THEM!! And it was UNNECESSARY!
I'm not so sure of that. Could be posturing on China's part.
And that won't be happening.
And like I said, may have even been part of it. I mean, here is China not wanting to get into over some islands with Japan, and then can say, hey, we got the little guy over here that we are having trouble with so maybe you guys (the U.S. and Japan) should back off and cool it a bit.
???
Why am I not surprised my agenda-pushing, war-promoting, Zionist-controlled media is trying to make that link?
Now if only they had the rockets to deliver them, huh?
Honestly, I'm all feared out and I don't think the Korean regime is suicidal.
Do its neighbors pose a threat to it? I suppose its all the way you look at things.
We have a space command and we are worried about a North Korean pea-shooter?
Neither is ours.
Say what?
But that is not the important takeaway here.
That's not going to help the hunger problem.
How do you say double standard in Korean?
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea said Wednesday that its nuclear weapon program was no longer negotiable and indicated that it might conduct its third nuclear test to retaliate against the United Nations Security Council’s tightening of sanctions against the isolated yet highly militarized country.
Although it was not the first time North Korea issued such strident rhetoric, its posture, coming under the new leadership of Kim Jong Un, threw a direct challenge to President Obama as he starts his second term, and Park Geun-hye, who will be sworn in as South Korea president next month.
Related: The Iron Lady of Asia
And I had such high hopes.
After years of tensions with North Korea, both Obama and Park have said they were keeping the door open for talks with North Korea on the premise that such engagement should lead to an eventual dismantling of its nuclear arms program.
The North’s comments came as the United States reaffirmed its policy of punishing North Korea for moving toward the development of long-range missiles tipped with a nuclear warhead, spearheading international backing for a unanimous Security Council resolution Tuesday.
And you wonder why they don't like us and view us suspiciously?
--more--"
"North Korea threatens nuclear test" by Chico Harlan | Washington Post, January 25, 2013
SEOUL — North Korea threatened Thursday to carry out a nuclear test as part of an ‘‘all-out action’’ against the United States, which it called the ‘‘main player’’ behind recently adopted international sanctions.
We were the main player behind it.
In a statement published by Pyongyang’s state news agency and attributed to the National Defense Commission, the supreme military policymaking body, the North said Washington’s policy toward it had entered ‘‘a new dangerous phase.’’ Although an underground nuclear test would not directly threaten the United States, it would raise stakes for the Obama administration, which has failed to curtail the North’s weapons program despite a series of sanctions and short-lived attempts at dialogue.
Look, let's not create a crisis where we don't have to.
Intelligence specialists in Seoul and Washington have speculated for months that the secretive police state is preparing to conduct its third nuclear blast, based on satellite photos showing activity at the North’s test site. The North’s state news agency has also made several opaque references about bolstering its ‘‘nuclear deterrent.’’
But the statement Thursday was the clearest sign yet of its intentions, and it came with an unusually explicit focus on the United States, which it described as ‘‘the sworn enemy of the Korean people.’’ The North, in raising the prospect of another nuclear test, did not say when it might be carried out.
The North added that it would retaliate against the United States with ‘‘force, not with words, as it regards jungle law as the rule of its survival.’’ As part of this show of force, the North also pledged to launch a series of long-range rockets, similar to the one it sent into orbit last month, which prompted the toughened UN Security Council sanctions.
‘‘They have been hinting at [a nuclear test], I suppose, for some time,’’ said Glyn Davies, the Obama administration’s envoy for North Korea policy, who was in Seoul on Thursday. ‘‘We think that that would be a mistake, obviously. We call on North Korea, as does the entire international community, not to engage in any further provocations.’’
What do you call U.S.-South Korea war drills?
North Korea has spent decades as East Asia’s chief provocateur — developing weapons, launching rockets, making and breaking denuclearization deals, threatening all-out war — and analysts admit that its rhetoric can often feel repetitive. But the North, those analysts said, is indeed becoming more dangerous.
It's like reading an AmeriKan newspaper.
The rocket it sent into orbit on Dec. 12, according to South Korean analysis, was made largely with indigenous components and could be capable of reaching the United States.
I was told the rocket test pretty much failed.
Although North Korea hasn’t yet shown the ability to miniaturize a nuclear weapon enough to mount on a rocket, some security analysts said the country could hone such technology within several years. Scientists said that nuclear tests are essential for any country that wants to miniaturize its nuclear devices.
So no immediate threats even if they explode a bomb.
If the North conducts another nuclear test, it would lend new clues about the range of the North’s weapons material. North Korea’s first two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, both used plutonium, and the North — though it has idled its plutonium program — still has about 24 to 48 kilograms on hand, enough for between four to eight bombs, according to Siegfried Hecker, the former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Many intelligence specialists, though, speculate that the North is doing otherwise, and has additional, clandestine uranium facilities throughout the country.
A report last year from the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, acknowledging the many unknowns, said the North could have enough weapons-grade uranium for anywhere from zero to 11 nuclear weapons.
The North has not yet conducted a nuclear test under supreme leader Kim Jong-un, who inherited power when his father, Kim Jong Il, died in December 2011. In state propaganda, the young Kim appears as a smiling man of the people, but in practice, he has doubled down on the strange brand of family-run brinksmanship — all while maintaining the surveillance networks and the labor camps where some 200,000 of his people are imprisoned.
Almost looks like the U.S., only better.
Following the North’s statement Thursday, China urged for calm from all involved parties, a familiar talking point from Pyongyang’s chief economic partner.
Yeah, China doesn't want any wars.
Another nuclear test would present a particular challenge for new Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his lieutenants, who are torn between supporting a key ally and maintaining international credibility.
Then the Chinese must have given him the okay, and probably view it as a good and indirect way of sending a signal to the AmeriKan empire given what is currently happening with Japan.
--more--"
Related:
Fueling speculation that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un plans to push forward with a threat to explode a nuclear device in defiance of the United Nations.
Well, they did slap another set of sanctions on them at the insistence of the U.S.
"North Korea hints at nuclear test" Associated Press, February 04, 2013
SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued ‘‘important’’ guidelines on how to bolster the army and protect the nation’s sovereignty at a high-level ruling Workers’ Party meeting, state media said Sunday, an indication Pyongyang may be ready to conduct an atomic test at any time....
Recent satellite photos showed North Korea may have been sealing the tunnel into a mountainside where a nuclear device would be exploded. The United States, South Korea, and other countries have urged the North to scrap its nuclear test plans or face grave consequences....
Like what, invasion? Blowing the thing up is a likely attempt to forestall such a thing. The young leader and his administration has seen what happens to those who do not have nuclear weapons (think Iraq).
--more--"
"North Korea says it conducted 3d nuclear test; New challenge for US; Kim defies Chinese" by David Sanger and Choe Sang-hun | New York Times, February 12, 2013
WASHINGTON — North Korea confirmed on Tuesday that it had conducted its third, long-threatened nuclear test, according to the official KCNA news service, posing a new challenge for the Obama administration in its effort to keep the country from becoming a full-fledged nuclear power.
At least it got attention away from Iran.
The KCNA said it used a “miniaturized and lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously” and that the test “did not pose any negative impact on the surrounding ecological environment.”
I certainly don't believe that last part. I don't see how it could not have caused ecological damage no matter where they exploded it. If nothing else it jarred the tectonic plates of earth, and I would expect earthquakes to follow very soon.
Many nations initially detected the test as seismic activity centered near the same location where the North conducted tests in 2006 and 2009. The United States Geological Survey said it was only a kilometer underground, an indication consistent with a nuclear blast. And in Vienna, the organization that monitors the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty said that tremor had “clear explosionlike characteristics.”
Preliminary estimates suggested a test far larger than the previous two conducted by the North, though probably less powerful than the first bomb the United States dropped on Japan, in Hiroshima, in 1945.
Yeah, that's another thing that seems to be forgotten amongst the endless U.S. lecturing on atomic weapons: we are the ONLY NATION that has EVER USED THEM!! And it was UNNECESSARY!
The test is the first under the country’s new leader, Kim Jong Un, and an open act of defiance to the Chinese, who urged the young leader not to risk open confrontation by setting off the weapon. Just in the past few days a Chinese newspaper that is often reflective of the government’s thinking said the North must ‘‘pay a heavy price’’ if it proceeded with the test.
I'm not so sure of that. Could be posturing on China's part.
The United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, condemned the test in a statement Tuesday.
Past UN Security Council sanctions have not deterred the country from accelerating its missile and nuclear programs. And recent actions, including a successful missile test nearly two months ago that reached as far as the Philippines and sent a washing machine-sized satellite into space, have dashed hopes that the country’s Swiss-educated new leader might be willing to focus on economic reform rather than pursuing the path taken by his father and grandfather: open defiance of the country’s adversaries.
The Obama administration has already threatened to take additional action to penalize the North if it conducts a test, through the United Nations. But there are few sanctions left to apply against the most unpredictable country in Asia. The only penalty that would truly hurt the North would be a cutoff of oil and other aid from China.
And that won't be happening.
And until now, the Chinese have feared instability and chaos in the North more than its growing nuclear and missile capability, and the Chinese leadership has refused to participate in sanctions.
Kim, believed to be about 29, appears to be betting that even a third test would not change the Chinese calculus.
And like I said, may have even been part of it. I mean, here is China not wanting to get into over some islands with Japan, and then can say, hey, we got the little guy over here that we are having trouble with so maybe you guys (the U.S. and Japan) should back off and cool it a bit.
It may take days or weeks to determine if the test, if that is what it proves to be, was successful.
???
But US officials will also be looking for signs of whether the North, for the first time, conducted a test of a uranium weapon, based on an enrichment capability it has been pursuing for a decade. The past two tests used plutonium, reprocessed from one of the country’s now-defunct nuclear reactors. While the country only has enough plutonium for a half-dozen or so bombs, it can produce enriched uranium well into the future.
No country is more interested in the results of the North’s nuclear program, or the Western reaction, than Iran, which is pursuing its own uranium enrichment program. The two countries have long cooperated on missile technology, and many intelligence officials believe they share nuclear knowledge as well, though so far there is no hard evidence.
Why am I not surprised my agenda-pushing, war-promoting, Zionist-controlled media is trying to make that link?
Iranians are also pursuing uranium enrichment, and one senior US official said two weeks ago that ‘‘it’s very possible that the North Koreans are testing for two countries.’’
--more--"
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"North Korea’s nuclear test sparks global rebukes; Bomb reportedly stronger; UN readies response" by David E. Sanger and Choe Sang-Hun | New York Times, February 13, 2013
WASHINGTON — North Korea’s confirmation Tuesday that it had conducted its third, long-threatened nuclear test provoked international rebukes and elicited pledges of more punitive action from UN Security Council members....
Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan of South Korea, whose country holds the monthly rotating presidency of the Security Council, emerged from the meeting before noon to read a statement from all 15 members that they had ‘‘strongly condemned this test’’ and were beginning to work immediately on a resolution. He declined to specify what was envisioned but emphasized that all members, including North Korea’s ally and neighbor China, wanted action that would persuade the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
The South Korean foreign minister also said North Korea would ‘‘be held responsible for any consequences of this provocative act.’’
Susan E. Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters that the Security Council ‘‘must and will deliver a swift, credible, and strong response.’’ She also declined to specify what a new resolution might do. “We and others have a number of further measures that we will be discussing,’’ she said.
If it's Israel it's a veto.
The test is the first under the country’s new leader, Kim Jong Un, and an open act of defiance to the Chinese, who had urged Kim not to risk open confrontation by setting off the weapon. In a relatively muted statement issued several hours after the blast, China expressed its ‘‘staunch opposition’’ to the test but called for ‘‘all parties concerned to respond calmly.’’
I'm beginning to think my analysis is correct when you read the coded newspeak I find in my paper. Nothing about the islands crisis in my paper again today.
Later Tuesday, the North Korean Foreign Ministry warned of ‘‘second and third measures of greater intensity’’ if Washington remains hostile....
I take that to meant they will explode another one.
--more--"
NEXT DAY UPDATE:
"North Korea’s nuclear test sparks global rebukes; Bomb reportedly stronger; UN readies response" by David E. Sanger and Choe Sang-Hun | New York Times, February 13, 2013
WASHINGTON — North Korea’s confirmation Tuesday that it had conducted its third, long-threatened nuclear test provoked international rebukes and elicited pledges of more punitive action from UN Security Council members....
Foreign Minister Kim Sung-Hwan of South Korea, whose country holds the monthly rotating presidency of the Security Council, emerged from the meeting before noon to read a statement from all 15 members that they had ‘‘strongly condemned this test’’ and were beginning to work immediately on a resolution. He declined to specify what was envisioned but emphasized that all members, including North Korea’s ally and neighbor China, wanted action that would persuade the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
The South Korean foreign minister also said North Korea would ‘‘be held responsible for any consequences of this provocative act.’’
Susan E. Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters that the Security Council ‘‘must and will deliver a swift, credible, and strong response.’’ She also declined to specify what a new resolution might do. “We and others have a number of further measures that we will be discussing,’’ she said.
If it's Israel it's a veto.
The test is the first under the country’s new leader, Kim Jong Un, and an open act of defiance to the Chinese, who had urged Kim not to risk open confrontation by setting off the weapon. In a relatively muted statement issued several hours after the blast, China expressed its ‘‘staunch opposition’’ to the test but called for ‘‘all parties concerned to respond calmly.’’
I'm beginning to think my analysis is correct when you read the coded newspeak I find in my paper. Nothing about the islands crisis in my paper again today.
Later Tuesday, the North Korean Foreign Ministry warned of ‘‘second and third measures of greater intensity’’ if Washington remains hostile....
I take that to meant they will explode another one.
--more--"
Now if only they had the rockets to deliver them, huh?
"North Korea still years away from reliable missiles" by Foster Klug and Matthew Pennington | Associated Press, December 14, 2012
SEOUL — After 14 years of painstaking labor, North Korea finally has a rocket that can put a satellite in orbit. But that doesn’t mean the reclusive country is close to having an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Specialists said Pyongyang is years from even having a shot at developing reliable missiles that could bombard the American mainland and other distant targets, though it did gain attention and the outrage of world leaders Wednesday with its first successful launch of a three-stage, long-range rocket.
Honestly, I'm all feared out and I don't think the Korean regime is suicidal.
A missile program is built on decades of systematic, intricate testing, something extremely difficult for economically struggling Pyongyang, which faces guaranteed sanctions and world disapproval each time it stages an expensive launch. North Korea will need larger and more dependable missiles, and more advanced nuclear weapons, to threaten US shores, though it already poses a threat to its neighbors.
Do its neighbors pose a threat to it? I suppose its all the way you look at things.
‘‘One success indicates progress, but not victory, and there is a huge gap between being able to make a system work once and having a system that is reliable enough to be militarily useful,’’ said Brian Weeden, a former US Air Force Space Command officer and a technical adviser to the Secure World Foundation, a think tank on space policy.
We have a space command and we are worried about a North Korean pea-shooter?
Yup, we have a death star up there.
North Korea’s satellite launch came only after repeated failures and hundreds of millions of dollars. It is an achievement for young authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un, whose late father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, made development of missiles and nuclear weapons a priority despite international opposition and his nation’s poverty....
A senior US official said the satellite is tumbling in orbit and not acting as it should, but the official said that doesn’t necessarily mean it is out of control. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of a lack of authorization to publicly discuss the US analysis, said the important takeaway is that North Korea was able to successfully execute all three stages of the missile launch and get the satellite into space.
The UN Security Council said in a brief statement after closed consultations Wednesday that the launch violates council resolutions against North Korea’s use of ballistic missile technology, and said it would urgently consider ‘‘an appropriate response.’’
‘‘This launch is about a weapons program, not peaceful use of space,’’ State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
Neither is ours.
Even North Korea’s most important ally, China, expressed regret.
North Korea has long possessed the components needed to construct long-range rockets. Scientists in Pyongyang, however, had been trying and failing since 1998 to conduct a successful launch. Only this week — their fifth try — did they do so, prompting dancing in the streets of the capital.
North Korea’s far more advanced rival, South Korea, has failed twice since 2009 to launch a satellite on a rocket from its own territory, and postponed two attempts in recent weeks because of technical problems.
Say what?
Each advancement Pyongyang makes causes worry in Washington and among North Korea’s neighbors. In 2010, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates warned that within five years the North could develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
Wednesday’s launch suggests the North is on track for that, said former US defense official James Schoff, now an expert on East Asia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
But he and other specialists said the North must still surmount tough technical barriers to build the ultimate military threat: a sophisticated nuclear warhead small enough to mount on a long-range missile....
But that is not the important takeaway here.
--more--"
Also see:
The debris(?) suggest technological ties with Iran? I thought I heard war drums beating.
"NORTH KOREA STAGES RALLY -- Tens of thousands gathered in Pyongyang on Friday to glorify the country's young ruler, Kim Jong Un, who sent a satellite into orbit this week in defiance of international warnings. Much of the world viewed Wednesday's rocket launch as a thinly disguised test of banned long-range missile technology (Boston Globe December 15 2012)."
A waste of resources when the country is struggling with a chronic food shortage.
As if that weren't bad enough:
"North Korea announced that the typhoon that hit the peninsula last week killed 48 people and left 21,000 homeless. The update from the official Korean Central News Agency said Typhoon Bolaven also left more than 50 people injured or missing, and damaged 123,000 acres of farmland. The storm also killed 15 people in South Korea."
That's not going to help the hunger problem.
Speaking of the South:
"South Korea records first successful satellite launch" by Choe Sang-Hun | New York Times, January 31, 2013
SEOUL — South Korea on Wednesday succeeded in thrusting a satellite into orbit for the first time, achieving its ambition of joining an elite club of space technology leaders, seven weeks after the successful launching of a satellite by rival North Korea.
I expect U.N. sanctions to soon follow.
South Korea has attached an intense national pride to the 140-ton, 108-foot-tall Korea Space Launch Vehicle-1, or KSLV-1, which was built with the help of Russian technology. Feeling besieged by China and Japan, both of which have successful space programs, South Korea has sought a technological prowess of its own.
That task gained more urgency after North Korean successfully placed a rocket into orbit on Dec. 12.
I was told it wasn't a success.
Only a handful of countries have succeeded in independently launching satellites into orbit, with Iran also recently joining the club.
Uh-oh.
After studying the debris of the North Korean rocket that splashed into South Korean waters, officials here determined that North Korea, despite its backward economy, has locally built key components of its rocket.
With all major South Korean television stations broadcasting the countdown live, the two-stage rocket blasted off from the newly built Naro Space Center in Goheung, 200 miles south of Seoul....
Although part of the two-stage rocket was built by the Russians, South Korea considered the successful launching Wednesday an important toehold in space technology, the latest high-tech market where the country has decided to become a player....
--more--"
How do you say double standard in Korean?
