
North Korea attempts but fails to launch missile: South Korea - mabynogy
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-usa-missile-idUSKBN17H0NL
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boomboomsubban
> The timing of the test, coinciding with Pence's trip and a day after the
> military parade, would suggest deliberate defiance

How? The parade happened as part of the "Day of the Sun," their most important
holiday and when they usually hold a military parade and showcase new weapons.

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timr
They launched it on Sunday. Day of the Sun was Saturday.

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boomboomsubban
The parade they mention was Saturday, and Day of Sun is a three day holiday.
Saying a test on day two suggests defiance still seems like a stretch.

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timr
It's the public holiday honoring the founder's birthday. Everything I've seen,
online or elsewhere, says it's one day.

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boomboomsubban
The founders birthday is the fifteenth, and it is followed by two days of
rest.

[http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/04/15/north-
ko...](http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/04/15/north-korea-
defectors/2085161/)

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nickjarboe
It seems to me that if a country has nuclear weapons and they are used in an
attack, then one should desire them to be delivered by ICBM. Then there is no
doubt where it came from and who attacked who. Living on the US Pacific coast,
I sure do not like the idea of a North Korea with long range missiles, but
they do have many submarines and a few nuclear weapons stealthily delivered by
a few of those would have much worse long term consequences for civilization.
The re-abandonment of American cities could happen just as they are starting
to bloom once again after a long hiatus.

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tzs
Crazy question: could some of North Korea's weapon test failures be
deliberate?

They know their tests are being watched by the world. They know that if they
get to a point where they are an believable imminent threat there might be
preemptive action taken against them.

Given that, it would be in their interest to make sure the rest of the world
underestimates their progress.

One way that could help with that would be when doing a test to test X make it
so it looks like it is actually testing Y, and make sure that the Y test
prominently fails.

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astrodust
Yay we get to live another day!

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marak830
As someone living in Japan with friends in Korea, this is rather true.

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rochellle
Kim Jong Un doesn't quite strike me as a suicidal personality. Furthermore, I
suspect he is not surrounded suicidal staff.

There's no end-game in a spontaneous lashing out at anybody in the region.
It's not a winnable situation for North Korea to attack anybody. They don't
get anything from actual violent belligerence.

They're basically a bee hive. They've got their territory, and there's not
much else happening, except maybe them screwing around on the internet for
kicks, and their science projects like their ICBM program.

At some point, his wife will bear a son. He'll have an heir, and life goes on.

But what if war cracked the country open, and he got taken out. What would a
re-integration of North Korean society look like?

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mack73
I don't think what we need right now is a world police, especially not an
American one. But, since you mention a region on earth that you seem to think
is in need of integrating with the rest, what would you think would happen to
the region that is USA if civil war cracked it open? Do you think at least
half of that country could be integrated with the rest of the world?

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geezerjay
> But, since you mention a region on earth that you seem to think is in need
> of integrating

You do know that Korea was artificially split in half due to the ongoing war,
don't you?

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_Korea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Division_of_Korea)

Germany was also split, and was reunited. I don't believe it's necessary to
explain why.

