According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) the North Korean government successfully placed a satellite in orbit following a perfect launch of that nation's Taepodong-2 rocket Sunday.
According to the rest of the world, North Korea tested its first long-range missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. That the test was unsuccessful doesn't matter; that country is one step closer to becoming a serious nuclear threat.
KCNA is the North Korean propaganda machine, so the fact that they claim a satellite was put in orbit doesn't really count for much. Taepodong-2 was a multi-stage rocket, similar to the Apollo spacecraft, and it appears that all three stages went down in the sea. The experts, who would know such things, say that a successful launch would have left the third stage in orbit around the planet.
It's hard not to find a little humor in this situation. During the Bush administration North Korea negotiated a return of aid in exchange for halting its only known nuclear reactor, but only after producing several nuclear warheads. Now, mere months into the Obama administration we've been goosed again, this time with a rudimentary ICBM.
After all, Kim Jong Il is just nuts enough to view these events as a sort of game, where he flexes his muscles and we pay him to stop. Remember that this man's ego is nothing short of superhuman; his gambling with a nuclear weapons program isn't much of a stretch.
The question is what we (the rest of the world) intend to do about this. North Korea is a military dictatorship run by a madman, existing so close to Bond-villain-ship that it would be comical if lives weren't at stake. Nothing short of military action will get Kim's attention without loss; if we cut off funds to the country, many people will starve before Kim relinquishes power.
So are we prepared to resort to a third front in order to preserve North Korea's non-nuclear status? After all, even if the UN takes the lead the U.S. will have to take a major part in any military action.
The alternative is letting Kim keep the bombs and the launch capabilities. It's a chilling thought, but he'd have to actually be certifiably insane to launch a nuclear attack in this day and age with a conventional delivery system. The threat of repercussion is too great.
If nuclear weapons are the inherited birthright of the atomic age, are we really to believe that launch systems are the new standard of mutually assured destruction? Is it OK to have bombs, as long as you can't get them that far outside your borders? Eventually Kim could sell one of the warheads, by the way.
Start another war or live in fear of a Napoleonic madman. It all comes down to how far we're willing to go.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
