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Splish Splash: North Korea’s Missile Took a Bath

By Pat Racimora on April 7, 2009 at 6:45 PM in North Korea

webkoreanmissile_edited-3

On April 5, North Korea’s so-called “Kwangmyongsong-2 Communications Satellite” (yeah, right—most believe it is actually an upgraded version of the Taepodong-2 military missile) failed to reach orbit, instead dumping two satellite-carrying stages into the Pacific Ocean. This is North Korea’s third botched attempt to launch a long-range missile.

That Kim Jong Il’s plans fizzled once again was hailed as mostly good news by the rest of the world. But this is not three strikes and you’re out.

These failures could potentially lead to disastrous confrontations. For example, had the debris landed on Japanese soil, an international incident would have been likley. (Korea is partially land-locked, so whatever they shoot up is likely cross over other countries. So far the fallout has hit water.) Also, this last rocket went a lot farther than any previous attempt. They haven’t got it right, but they are getting better at it.

President Obama has called this move a “provocative act.”

“In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack has gone up,” Mr. Obama told a huge crowd in Prague’s central square. “Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear materials abound. The technology to build a bomb has spread.”

He said the North’s testing of “a rocket that could be used for long-range missiles” illustrated “the need for action, not just this afternoon at the U.N. Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons.”

Sun-won Park , a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies of the Brookings Institution offers the following conclusion:

North Korea is neither a nuclear state, nor an ICBM state, but a failed rogue nation with a potentially dangerous nuclear program and the ability to jangle the world’s nerves by attempting to demonstrate this program, or proliferate its technology.

The rest of the world community should remain worried about this diminutive dictator who wants to be a big player. (Does this tiny guy really think that the high hair and heels are fooling anyone?) Whether through blackmail–“Give me what I want and I will tell you I will stop the testing”–or eventual technological success, I doubt he will quit trying. That’s not good news.

  • http://noquarter foxyladi14

    he will keep trying,of that there is no doubt.
    we can only hope he will keep failing..

    • sowsear

      Even a broken clock is right twice a day, as they say!

  • sowsear

    Mrk Fiori animated cartoons-for your “amusement”,

  • I’mFedUp

    OMG Pat…amazing art. LMAO.

  • http://www.sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

    Yes, it could have landed on Japanese soil but it did not. I wonder how many similar accidents we and other countries have had. They are not good, but it does happen.

    I liked Ron Paul’s response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F34ZWvccNFg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecampaignforliberty%2Ecom%2Findex%2Ephp&feature=player_embedded

    It seems he’s the only one in Washington responding to the event logically and not politically.

    • jangles

      Ron Paul needs to work on the “sound bite”. He is lost in words just like Obama.

  • xax

    Why do I feel like these duds are nothing but distractions? Make people think that you can not get a working missile, and then next thing you know Hawaii’s gone.

    • Pat Racimora

      xax, that’s a really scary thought!

  • Peggy Sue

    Good one, Pat! I understand the North Korean population was told that the “satellite” is sending back weather information and broadcasting patriotic songs to the Universe.

    Of course, we’ve been told that the act was a serious provocation. We followed up by telling the teacher [the UN], which, of course, did absolutely nothing.

    Different strokes for different folks!!

    • Solara 7

      Yes, North Korea is virtually completely cut off from the rest of the world, so the North Korean people can be told anything.

      • sowsear

        If we relie on our media for news we might be N. Koreans soon.

        • sowsear

          that’s rely, sorry

  • jangles

    Just got a robo call from Obama about how he signed the stimulus into law. When does this guy get that the election is over and we would f###@# like to have our dinner hour free of interruptions!!

  • jangles

    Does our tax money go for presidential robo calls?

  • Elizabeth

    Can’t stand Ron Paul, but Fred Kaplan I thought had a spot on analysis at Slate.

    http://www.slate.com/id/2215488/?from=rss

    Basically, the US has no good options. The six-party talks will not result in denuclearization, not any time soon at least. Ignoring North Korea
    raises the prospect that North Korea will up the ante in its bid for attention.

    Boxing in the regime through tougher sanctions only feeds anti-N Korea sentiments in Japan and the US, not to mention risking regime collapse altogether. Plus it just gives the North one more button they can push to get attention and create issues for which the West convinces itself it must negotiate.

    There is no good option available to the US, Japan, and South Korea, especially in the absence of more Chinese pressure.

    • http://www.sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

      Maybe the Chinese are just not all that worried?

      Why are we? If North Korea (a country that cannot even feed its own people) decides for some odd reason to hit Hawaii, they will be vaporized within 10 minutes. They know this.

      It’s pretty sad they couldn’t even get a plain old rocket into orbit. Anyway, they are well within their rights to shoot off rockets–how else are they to establish a satellite program?

      • Elizabeth

        The North is without question making progress with its missile technology. While the satellite launch may have failed, this rocket still flew more than twice the distance of previous long-range missile tests.

        So China should be worried. Any move to develop longer-range missiles, particularly rockets that could reach their mainland, could spark a new arms race in the region. And there have been calls already in both Japan and South Korea for those countries to begin developing a pre-emptive strike capability.

        At the very least US and the neighbors in particular should be devoting considerable energy preparing for the consequences of a possible NK regime collapse.

        The only course of action at this point may be getting a token a resolution out of the Security Council and doing whatever possible to coax North Korea open while waiting for 6 party talks to resume. China and Russia have more leverage as a result of their trade relationship with the country, but tightening sanctions doesn’t seem to be the way to go either since those have only made the suffering of the people greater.

      • http://Scout Scout

        Well, I’m worried because I have family in Hawaii.

        • http://www.sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

          Sorry–I didn’t mean to be cavalier about the people in Hawaii–just trying to say the North Koreans are well aware of what the reaction to an actual offense would be.

    • elise

      Elizabeth, God knows I don’t want to argue with Kaplan or Slate, but the Chinese are very interested in keeping North Korea from developing nuclear weapons. They live next door to that nut. I’m pretty confused by the UN reaction and Susan Rice is not capable of standing up to other reps there. Why did Gates admit on national tv there was nothing we could do to stop their tests? The sanctions haven’t worked and they are a bad idea so China and Russia are the obstacles. What possible interest could they have in protecting NK since it is trouble for them and without them it would be completely isolated. So what do they want out of this situation and what could be done to make it more interesting to them to back the rest of the world in condemning Korea? They were taking part in the 6 party talks so what were they asking for in exchange? We still have troops in the South after fifty years and is that really to protect them or to give the US a base near China? It’s just an idea because I don’t understand a lot about the situation, but maybe China and Russia want a buffer between them and the US? I remember reading a while back the lease the Soviet Union had on Cam Ranh Bay since the end of the Vietnam war has expired and the US is trying to get Vietnam to open it to foreign warships. Cam Ranh is a very deep bay within shouting distance of China. Kim Jung Il probably understands the importance of his country to China and Russia and knows they will protect him in the UN.

  • ziggy

    Maybe the N. Korean satellites were designed to communicate with fish?

    • elise

      You made a joke!!!!! ziggy.

      • TeakwoodKite

        LOL

  • IndieDogg

    An aside, but the North Korean non-launches illustrate how incredible and often under-appreciated are our own space science practitioners. They make appear effortless something that is extraordinarily difficult.

    NASA as an agency gets kicked around from time to time but we should not overlook the work of all those at work in our country in the space sciences.

    Helping keep us safe. Helping develop new technologies for use here on the planet. And, exploring our frontier — the “out there” out there.

    • TeakwoodKite

      It is instructive to remind folks that we went through a lot of failed launches before we got “The Right Stuff”.

      It is problematic that the North Koreans will learn from this as we did. As will the Iranians, since the technology has aspects in common in this case.

      How many millions of parts does a space shuttle have?

  • http://sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

    OMG! pat that cartoon is SO friggin cute! I just love how fancy he looks. hahahah This is my fav so far!

    Did you see the video of this idiot, Smith? More Obots trying to spin for Obama…

    http://finkelblog.com/index.php/2009/04/06/smith-suggests-nkorea-launch-just-a-goofy-stunt/

    Wasn’t it just a goofy stunt?

  • JohnnyB

    Good Cartoon Pat:

    I’m not worried about a missile program that is in development, I’m worried about what is in place now.
    The Suitcase Nuclear Bomb is much more dangerous than one missile. It can hit with NO WARNING.

    Nine countries have succeeded in making a nuclear weapon. Only South Africa has dismantled their program (we think). The countries with successful, on-going nuclear weapons programs are the United States, Britain, France, China, India, Israel, Pakistan, and Russia.

    From: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/dprk/army.htm This information is slightly out-dated.

    The Korean People’s Army is the “revolutionary armed wing” of the Worker’s Party as stated in Article 46 of the party constitution, with first and foremost loyalties to the party.

    The KPA is the vanguard of the Korean revolution,the revolutionary armed forces of the Workers Party Of Korea. The Army-First/Songun idea was articulated by Leader KIM JONG IL, who declared that the choice was Army-first politics to maintain indepedence or become the colonial slaves of imperialism.

    North Korea continues to position forces into the area just north of the DMZ— in a position to threaten Combined Forces Command and all of Seoul with little warning. Seventy percent of their active force, including approximately 700,000 troops, over 8,000 artillery systems, and 2,000 tanks, is postured within 90 miles of the Demilitarized Zone. This percentage continues to rise despite the June 2000 summit. Most of this force in the forward area is protected in over 4,000 underground facilities, out of over 11,000 nationwide. From their current locations, these forces can attack with minimal preparations or warning. The protracted southward deployment follows a tactic of “creeping normalcy”—a significant movement over a period of many years that would attract too much international attention if accomplished over weeks or months.
    North Korea has organized a grand total of seven million men and women into reserve units. Reserve Military Training Unit, Worker-Peasant Militia, and the Young Red Guards make up most of the number. The units are managed by the Party Civil Defense Department in peacetime, but are placed under the Ministry of Defense in contingencies. War mobilization measures usually assign Reserve Military Training Unit to the front or regional defense in war, while the other two units are assigned to maintain security in the rear, guard duty for important facilities, etc. About 30% of all North Koreans between the ages fifteen to sixty are mobilized for reserve units:

    The Reserve Military Training Unit consist of approximately 1.7 million persons (men 17-45 and unmarried women 17-30) who are not either in active duty or important rear area personnel. They are mobilized under supervision of provincial military units, for a total of forty days’ training out of the year.
    The Worker-Peasant Militia is a combination of older men aged 45-60, along with men ages 17-45 and unmarried women ages 17-30 who are not included in Reserve Military Training Unit. They train for a total of thirty days out of the year. Their current numbers stand at 4.1 million.
    The Young Red Guards consist of 1.2 million male and female Higher Middle (High) School students aged 14-16. They are subject to a mandatory four-hour drill session every Saturday and a total of 160 hours of on-campus drills annually. A total of 450 hours of off-campus training is also mandatory.
    Reserve Military Training Unit form the core of the reserves and are under the command of the Ministry of Defense in peace AND in wartime. Party Civil Defense Departments keep track of the Worker-Peasant Militia and the Young Red Guards in peace time, but the Ministry of Defense in contingencies.

    Don’t you think we should find another way to engage nations besides sabre-rattling? Or Preemptive strikes?

    • Solara 7

      Yikes, Johnny B. Had no idea that their military was that size.

  • RPL

    FWIW, there is a web site devoted to military/political/social issues that discussed the launch. There’s a script that NK follows, and everyone plays along. Basically, they want a bribe, and they want people to pay attention to them. Typically, after an incident like this, payments get made, there’s alot of bluster, etc. The problem this time is that Japan is ad-libbing, and is talking of re-arming beyond its self-defense capabilities. This is not part of the script, as the last time Japan did this it went badly for alot of the world. The Japanese are hated in Korea, as the occupation was rather brutal. If Japan re-arms, other countries will do so as well, and there will be an Asian arms race.

    The story that I have heard is that the Japanese Self Defense Force was ordered to NOT shoot down the missile by the Obama administration, as this might have provoked a shooting war between NK and SK. Who knows if any of this is true.

  • Stan Davis

    Love the cartoon, Pat.

    North Korea is far from landlocked, with shores both to the east and west. But Japan does block a free flight path of a missile of any significant range. A missile fired from North Korea to the open ocean must overfly Japan.

    The main point, though, is that our early missile and rocket tests in the late 50s weren’t exactly huge successes, either. We shouldn’t be heartened by North Korea’s early failures.

    Stan Davis
    Lakewood, CO

    • Pat Racimora

      Whoopsie–thanks Stan. I left out a word I meant to be there (which has since been inserted).

      Yes, I agree with your last point 100%!

  • http://www.marklevinshow.com Seattle Moss

    I wonder if N Korea will follow Obama’s lead now that they have failed and eliminate their pursuit of Nuclear weapons..

    Not Even!!!

    Obama is a fool to think anyone will disarm like he intends…

  • socalannie

    Great cartoon & article! Thanks Pat!

  • Rich

    Wonderful cartoon! Looks just like him to me.

    I think Obama has more then a plat full when trying to deal with N. Korea. The worst part is that what they do works. Not the missile, but the manipulations that go on and on. And as other countries see that it works and can possibly get them things that they want, they will be very tempted to follow suite or ask for presents not to. Why not threaten to build missiles and sell them to our enemies if it makes one look like a powerful player who at any time can get the world’s attention and presents?

    I know that without Russia and China cooperating, not much can be done, and by the time they realize how their actions have affected the world, it may be too late. The alternative is for everyone to have missiles and hope that each country wants to live rather then willing to dye. But then there are all those groups that do not care if they live because if they dye and take the enemy with them they can have all of those poor virgins.

    Rich

  • Rich

    Looks just like him to me. Wonderful cartoon!

    I think Obama has more then a plat full when trying to deal with N. Korea. The worst part is that what they do works. Not the missile, but the manipulations that go on and on. And as other countries see that it works and can possibly get them things that they want, they will be very tempted to follow suite or ask for presents not to. Why not threaten to build missiles and sell them to our enemies if it makes one look like a powerful player who at any time can get the world’s attention and presents?

    I know that without Russia and China cooperating, not much can be done, and by the time they realize how their actions have affected the world, it may be too late. The alternative is for everyone to have missiles and hope that each country wants to live rather then willing to dye. But then there are all those groups that do not care if they live because if they dye and take the enemy with them they can have all of those poor virgins.

    Rich

  • I’mFedUp

    I don’t know what to think or believe, and I appreciate all of the comments and opinions here. The bottom line for me is that I will never feel safe under the so called “Obama Administration.” Never. I just pray he’s not on the same drugs he did before the “60 Minutes” interview if the 3 AM call comes.

    • BARB

      I find it very difficult to believe anything from an administration that literally stole the election…by stealing the nomination from Hillary Clinton or the MSM that went along with it. Where and from who is the news coming from that the NK missile launch was a failure? Sounds like another invention…just like the recent one saying that an assassination attempt was planned against BO in Turkey!!!! Since NK totally ignored the so-called threats (meaningless and empty) by the BO administration, the next best plan they came up with is to tell all of the Obamatrons…that it really didn’t matter that NK totally ignored BO, as the NK launch was a failure.

  • http://N/A breeze

    Biden: New Israel would be ‘ill-advised’ to attack Iran

    Apr 7 02:53 PM US/Eastern

    US Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday the new Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be “ill-advised” to attack Iran, but stressed that it was unlikely to do so.
    “I don’t believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu would do that. I think he would be ill-advised to do that,” Biden said in an interview with CNN, when asked about possible Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

    “My level of concern is no different than it was a year ago,” he added.

    Presenting his new government to Israel’s parliament a week ago, Netanyahu alluded to an eventual nuclear-armed Iran as the biggest threat to his Jewish state.

    “The biggest danger to humanity and to Israel comes from the possibility of a radical regime armed with nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said, making clear his remarks were aimed at Iran.

    President Barack Obama’s administration has repeatedly said that all options are on the table for dealing with Iran, but is trying to launch a new dialogue with the Islamic republic after a three-decade freeze in relations.

    Copyright AFP 2008

    • elise

      I believe Israel test fired an Arrow missile on Sunday. Lots of things flying around in the air right now.

  • http://! stodgie

    i saw someone on tv last night. it was fox. anyway he said it is much ado about nothing. these guys are broke, past their time and are “the gang that can’t shoot straight.” that was his view and i have to tell you it made sense to me.

    i get so tired of the endless hand wringing and woe is me. maybe larry will have another view. different views are welcome. i am not expert in these matters.

  • I’m a Linda too

    Pat, you out did yourself. EXCELLENT

    …lol,…on about a Saturday night!

    Another word Weary Barry steals from Hillary. He likes that….”provocative”.

  • Don X

    Terrific cartoon and important issue, well presented, Pat. Nuclear proliferation is an issue for the world to continue to take seriously. I thought your comments were on target, Rich For a recent report on progress toward non-proliferation that has been done internationally to date, you may be interested in the site below from the World Nuclear Association which represents people and organizations of the global nuclear profession.

    http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf12.html

  • TeakwoodKite

    Great work Pat. Another Classic.

    • elise

      Thanks for the link Don. It is my understanding there is a large quantity of nuclear material unaccounted for from the time of the fall of the Soviet Union. They didn’t guard it too well apparently. Some of it may have been intended for nuclear reactors, but some of it was enriched.

  • JozefAL

    Just a point of correction (call it a nitpick if you want, but the point remains), but by NO STRETCH of the imagination is North Korea “partially landlocked”. If it is, then you’ve redefined “landlocked”. A country which is “landlocked” is one that is completely surrounded by land (it’s “locked” in by “land”–hence, “landlocked”). Examples of landlocked countries include Bolivia, Switzerland, and Mongolia.
    Some countries, like Iraq and Dem Rep of Congo are effectively landlocked because the coastlines they have are very small and surrounded by countries with much larger coastlines. With countries like these, any breach in diplomatic relations with the neighboring country/countries can cut off the coastline completely with the country dependent upon a friendly neighboring country.
    With North Korea, however, the country has extensive coastlines on both its east and its west. The eastern coast is on the Sea of Japan, with an excess of 500 miles between the North Korean and Japanese coastlines (at the closest). North Korea’s western coast is the Bay of Korea, a part of the Yellow Sea. (Incidentally, if China should test missiles by launching them to sea, a failure would risk hitting Japan, the Ryukyu Islands or Taiwan, but almost no one would describe China as “partially landlocked”.)

    • Pat Racimora

      Yep–You are right. I didn’t use quite the right words. I was just thinking that when people who don’t have it right are close or have borders with any country it is a scary thing.

  • Sassy

    I love the cartoon Pat!
    Although it is a serious problem for the world, all I could visualize was that little commie strapped to the tip of that flying thing-a-ma-jig!
    What screeching! LOL!

    • Pat Racimora

      Thanks Sassy and the others who made nice comments about the toon. It was fun to draw.

  • http://360.yahoo.com/ommotherlifeforce fred heidrick

    amaerica has a 747 jumbo jet with a laser under its nose maybe the jet shot the missile down with the laser leaving no evidence.

  • Chuck S.

    My take: The Beloved Leader of N. Korea loves international attention, is one of the world’s great egos, probably has a Napoleon little-person complex (compared with westerners), has no qualms about starving his populus or defying other nations, with the possible exception of China which provides him with many supplies, and can magnify any/all of this by becoming a reliable international nuclear weapon and missile source, highest bidders please line up at the back door. This makes him very dangerous. Taking him out could really piss China off, which also is dangerous. He is a gigantic pain in the ass. He is a conundrum. At least that’s how I view him.
    CS