Posted by: McQ on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 My guess is there may be some dead rocket scientists in North Korea today. Of all the scenarios we dreamed up here about shooting down the Taepodong-2 or not shooting it down, blowing it up on the pad or not blowing it up on the pad, etc., none envisioned it's failure on launch. We acknowledged that were we, the US, were to attempt to shoot it down with our still unproven missile defense system and fail it would be deeply embarrassing to us. But can you imagine how deeply embarrassing the failure of the Taepodong-2 is to Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il? And Kim doesn't deal lightly with embarrassment. This missile was to be an in-your-face demonstration of North Korea's enhanced military power and a huge bargaining chip in the on-going negotiations. And, of course, we now get to diplomatically shake our fist at NoKo without ever having to pull a trigger or push a button: The U.S. government was prepared to shoot down the Taepodong-2 if it appeared to be heading to U.S. or allied territory, using the new limited missile-defense system with interceptors deployed in Alaska and California.Heh ... well, that's our story and we're sticking with it. Others have reacted as well. Japan: "North Korea has gone ahead with the launch, despite international protest," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said. "That is regrettable from the standpoint of Japan's security, the stability of international society and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction."South Korea, with Japan, protested the tests with Japan convincing the UN Security Council of the necessity of an emergency meeting scheduled for today. China's Foreign Ministry has refused comment but China was not particularly happy with North Korea's apparent intent to launch the Taepodong-2. North Korea launched 7 missiles in all, of varying sizes and ranges, but clearly the most important and the one with the most prestige riding on it was the Taepodong-2. The fact that it ended up failing before complete first stage burn is a huge blow to their prestige, not to mention making the state of their technology suspect as well. Of course NoKo put its best and most defiant spin on the failure: "The missile launch is an issue that is entirely within our sovereignty. No one has the right to dispute it," Ri Pyong Dok, a researcher on Japanese affairs at the North's Foreign Ministry, said on footage aired by TBS. "On the missile launch, we are not bound by any agreement."But clearly the failure of its long-range missile has to hurt and in a nation where "face" is everything, they've lost face badly. Which doesn't bode well for those who responsible. |
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