North Korea’s much-touted satellite launch ended in a nearly US$1 billion failure, bringing humiliation to the country’s new young leader and condemnation from a host of nations. The UN Security Council deplored the launch, but stopped short of imposing new penalties in response.
The rocket’s disintegration on Friday over the Yellow Sea brought a rare public acknowledgment of failure from Pyongyang, which had hailed the launch as a show of strength amid North Korea’s persistent economic hardship.
For the 20-something North Korean leader Kim Jong-un it was to have been a highlight of the celebratory events surrounding his ascension to top political power. It was timed to coincide with the country’s biggest holiday in decades, the 100th birthday of former North Korean founder Kim Il-sung, the young leader’s grandfather.
Photo: AFP
The US and South Korea declared the early morning launch a failure minutes after the rocket shot out from the North’s west coast. North Korea acknowledged its demise four hours later in an announcement broadcast on state TV, saying the satellite the rocket was carrying did not enter orbit.
The launch brought swift international condemnation, including the suspension of US food aid, and raised concerns that the North’s next move could be even more provocative — a nuclear test, the country’s third.
The UN Security Council denounced the launch as a violation of two resolutions that prohibit North Korea from developing its nuclear and missile programs, and met behind closed doors to consider a response. The council imposed sanctions on North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006 and stepped up sanctions after its second test in 2009.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former South Korean foreign minister, called the launch “deplorable” and urged North Korea “not to undertake any further provocative actions that will heighten tension in the region,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
US President Barack Obama said North Korea’s failed rocket launch shows the country is wasting money on rockets that “don’t work” while its people starve.
Obama told Spanish-language TV network Telemundo that the North Koreans have “been trying to launch missiles like this for over a decade now and they don’t seem to be real good at it.”
Still, he called the failed launch on Friday an area of deep concern for the US and said the US would work with other nations to “further isolate” North Korea.
Despite Friday’s failed launch, Pyongyang pressed ahead with grandiose propaganda in praise of the ruling Kim family.
Hours after the explosion, the young Kim was installed as the new head of the powerful National Defense Commission during a meeting of the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang. It was the last of the top military and party posts intended to consolidate his power after the death of his father, former longtime North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, four months ago.
At a massive gathering later Friday, Kim Jong-un and other senior officials watched the unveiling of an enormous new statue of Kim Jong-il, which stood beside an equally massive one of Kim Il-sung.
Yesterday the North’s official media announced that Kim Jong-un has promoted dozens of general-grade officers to mark the centennial of the birth of his grandfather. The military’s top political officer, Choe Ryong-hae, was also elected a member of the National Defense Commission in the latest reshuffle meant to tighten Kim’s grip on power, the Korean Central News Agency said.
North Korea had trumpeted the launch of its Kwangmyongsong, or “Bright Shining Star,” satellite as a scientific achievement and a gift for its late founder. It cost the impoverished nation about US$850 million, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, which estimated the cost of the rocket and its payload alone at US$450 million.
In downtown Pyongyang, university student Kim Kwang-jin was optimistic despite Friday’s failure.
“I’m not too disappointed. There was always the chance of failure,” he said. “Other nations — including China and Russia — have had failures while building their space programs, so why wouldn’t we? I hope that in the future, we’re able to build a better satellite.”
The rocket’s destruction suggests the country has yet to master the technology needed to build long-range missiles that could threaten the US.
Still, worries remain about North Korea’s nuclear program amid reports that it might be planning an atomic test soon.
The launch was condemned by the foreign ministers of the G8 industrialized nations meeting in Washington, including Russia, while Washington said it was suspending plans to contribute food aid to the North in exchange for a rollback of its nuclear programs.
North Korea announced weeks ago that it would launch a long-range rocket mounted with an observational satellite, touting it as a major technological achievement to mark the centennial of Kim Il-sung’s birth.
The failure “blows a big hole in the birthday party,” said Victor Cha, former director for Asia policy in the US National Security Council. “It’s terribly embarrassing for the North.”
Meanwhile, South Korean warships fanned out across the Yellow Sea yesterday to search for debris from North Korea’s failed rocket launch.
South Korea’s navy has deployed about 10 ships, including a corvette with sonar radars, to search for rocket debris in the Yellow Sea, a South Korean Ministry of Defense official said yesterday, asking not to be named, citing the operational nature of the search. He wouldn’t comment on local media reports that a destroyer is leading the search effort.
US Navy minesweepers and other ships in the area were expected to begin scouring the sea for debris from the rocket, which can offer evidence of what went wrong and what rocket technology North Korea has.
North Korea has tested two atomic devices, but is not yet believed to be able to build a nuclear warhead small enough to be mounted on a long-range missile.
On the Chinese microblogging platform Sina Weibo, enthusiastic slackers share their tips: Fill up a thermos with whiskey, do planks or stretches in the work pantry at regular intervals, drink liters of water to prompt lots of trips to the toilet on work time, and, once there, spend time on social media or playing games on your phone. “Not working hard is everyone’s basic right,” one commenter wrote. “With or without legal protection, everyone has the right to not work hard.” Young Chinese people are pushing back against an engrained culture of overwork, and embracing a philosophy of laziness known as “touching
‘STUNNED’: With help from an official at the US Department of Justice, Donald Trump reportedly planned to oust the acting attorney general in a bid to overturn the election Former US president Donald Trump was at his Florida resort on Saturday, beginning post-presidency life while US President Joe Biden settled into the White House, but in Washington and beyond, the chaos of the 45th president’s final days in office continued to throw out damaging aftershocks. In yet another earth-shaking report, the New York Times said that Trump plotted with an official at the US Department of Justice to fire the acting attorney general, then force Georgia Republicans to overturn his defeat in that state. Meanwhile, former acting US secretary of defense Christopher Miller made an extraordinary admission, telling Vanity Fair that
The Palauan president-elect has vowed to stand up to Chinese “bullying” in the Pacific, saying that the archipelago nation is set to stand by its alliances with “true friends,” Taiwan and the US. Surangel Whipps Jr, 52, a supermarket owner and two-time senator from a prominent Palauan family, is to be sworn in as the new president tomorrow, succeeding his brother-in-law, Tommy Remengesau Jr. In a forthright interview, Whipps said that the US had demonstrated over the years that it was a reliable friend of Palau, most recently shown by its delivery of 6,000 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. “It’s important for
DELIVERING HOPE: The Japanese PM pledged to push ahead with plans to stage the Games, despite polls showing about 80% think they will not or should not happen Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga yesterday vowed to get the COVID-19 pandemic under control and hold the already postponed Olympic Games this summer with ample protection. In a speech opening a new session of parliament, Suga said that his government would revise laws to make disease prevention measures enforceable with penalties and compensation. Early in the pandemic, Japan was able to keep its caseload manageable with nonbinding requests for businesses to close or operate with social distancing, and for people to stay at home, but recent weeks have seen several highs in new cases per day, in part blamed on eased attitudes
RSS