North Korea

Well isn't that something.

Not as much as getting fisted by Storm Corps, but I have to say that it is a hell of a way to go.

Well, they do say that North Korea will always put up a show...

Edited thread title to be compatible with general conversation about North Korea.

Here we go again...

"North Korea is to launch a long-range rocket between 10 and 22 December, its official news agency says.

The aim is to launch a satellite, according to the KCNA agency.

Previous - unsuccessful - launches have been criticised as breaches of a UN ban on North Korean ballistic missile tests.

The announcement is likely to increase tensions with North Korea's neighbours, with a presidential election scheduled for 19 December in South Korea.

North Korea's most recent rocket launch, in April, was a failure.

The US, Japan and South Korea said the rocket flew only for a short time before breaking up and crashing into waters off the Korean peninsula.

North Korean scientists and technicians had now "analysed the mistakes" of the April launch, the Korean Committee for Space Technology said, via KCNA.

There had been recent speculation that North Korea would attempt another launch soon, with a UN Security Council committee on Thursday warning the country against such a move."

So, what does this mean? Is Kim Jong-Un cuddling up to the military (to compensate them for replacing Ri Yong-Ho with Choe Yong-Rim, perhaps?) or are they forcing this on him? Or are they just trying again after the failure of the Lode Star 3 test in April? Is it another cry for attention?

What do you think?

It certainly seems that Kim Jong-Un is not going to be the reformer some have hoped for.

My personal feeling is that they are sending a message to South Korea on the eve of their presidential elections. The North notably hates the Saenuri Party, the incumbent administration. Then again, they probably just want to scare whoever comes in.

Information on their rocket program and capabilities.

Of course, this assumes that the rocket actually gets off the ground...

edited 1st Dec '12 1:43:22 AM by Achaemenid

Considering past nosedives, that's quite an assumption.

edited 1st Dec '12 3:03:02 AM by Euodiachloris

Actually I think his continuation of the ballistic program is to further undermine the military. Think about it, if you have nukes that can actually fly and hit intended targets, why would you need a large land army that (at this point) is specifically designed to just sack Seoul before they're destroyed? That said, such programs have momentum all on their own, and can be useful for populist purposes or, indeed as you say, to act as an olive branch to the military. So who knows.

Besides, remember how long it took his father to consolidate power? 5 years. This guy has only had one, so I'm not sure if this constitutes him not being a reformer. We simply don't know yet.

I find it somewhat ominous that December 21st is in the launch date range.

Oh well, they'll probably fail again. I wonder if they'll ever decide to stop making these things.

edited 1st Dec '12 3:24:57 PM by Kostya

While I don't have much of an expectation of success for this particular test, I wouldn't bet on them forever being failures at long-range rocketry. Remember, the US had a fair share of shitty rockets when it started, too, for years after they started getting serious about rocket R&D, with only 3 of 11 Vanguard rockets successfully getting their satellite payloads into orbit, for example.

The US wasn't a third world country that could barely feed its people. They probably will succeed eventually but something else will probably go wrong.

Ideally, at least in a "lesser of evils" sense, the "go wrong" is their government collapses. It will kinda suck for the rest of the people, mind you...

Anyway, while it's true they don't have the US's resources, I imagine former rocket scientists who gave us Reds with Rockets could be found for cheap, when the alternative for said scientists is their families starving.

(China could also be a source of tech knowledge, but I believe their interest in NK other than giving just enough support to keep the buffer between the PRC and SK is somewhat minimal, so they wouldn't be particularly inclined to support that particular bit of megalomania on NK's part.)

The trouble with Korean reunification is that there is going to be a horrific economic burden on the South to accomodate 25 million skill-less, propagandized, unhealthy, North Koreans - and North Korea can only support its workers as a communist state. Not to mention the possibility that China will annex it.

Frankly I don't care who gets it as long as someone decides to fix this nation. Right now it needs a government that's not abusing the fuck out of it and if the Chinese can give it that then go for it.

Agreed. I'd like to live long enough to see Korea made whole again. Yeah, the process will be painful, even without a war, but it needs to be done, somehow.

Not related to the current topic of discussion, but: does anyone know where I can find a collection of this racist North Korean propaganda I keep hearing so much about?

South Korea would sing China's praises if they took the North off their hands and annexed them. The catch is that China isn't interested in taking all those refugees either. North Korea is the Haiti of East Asia: nobody's interested.

Just look up Juche.

Also, for amusement: [1]

How about this book, which is an academic study. Actually getting copies of their internal propaganda is difficult for obvious reasons.

Doubt it. Most still feel a connection to North Korea.

And if they did reunify from a war, there'd probably be a lot less than 25 million North Koreans left...

Japan Deploys Missile Defense Against North Korean Rocket Test: The JSDF is ready.

Let's see what they've got deployed:

• Patriot PAC-3 missile batteries in Tokyo, Okinawa and at locations along the northern and western coasts facing the Korean Peninsula.
• Three Destroyers equipped with the RIM-161 Standard SM-3 missiles in the South China Sea.

I am not looking forward to the resulting shitstorm if the Japanese actually shoot it down.

And, think of the poor missile. Should it, by some miracle, actually maintain integrity during and just after lift-off... it'll get a little outside help to not retain that situation for long enough to reach its intended destination of detonation — oh, sorry, my bad: "exploration".

Poor lamb.

North Korea: On the net in world's most secretive nation

Here are the basics:

Yep, they've gone so far as to make their own OS...

Oh dear.

For news, Koreans have a pensive commentary and legendary inegrity of the Worker's Daily and the questing scholarship and unquestionably impartiality of the Korea Central News Agency. Tres amusant.

Fox News suddenly regains its charm.