North Korea's rocket launch failure an embarassment
North Korea said its much hyped
long-range rocket launch failed, in a very rare and embarrassing public
admission of failure by the hermit state and a blow for its new young leader
who faces international outrage over the attempt.The isolated North, using the
launch to celebrate the 100th birthday of the dead founding president Kim
Il-sung and to mark the rise to power of his grandson Kim Jong-un, is now
widely expected to press ahead with its third nuclear test to show its military
strength.
"The possibility of an additional long-range rocket launch or a
nuclear test, as well as a military provocation to strengthen internal
solidarity is very high," a senior South Korean defense ministry official
told a parliamentary hearing.The two Koreas are divided by the world's most
militarised border and remain technically at war after an armistice ended the
Korean War in 1953.The United States and Japan said the rocket, which they
claimed was a disguised missile test and the North said was to put a satellite
into orbit, crashed into the sea after travelling a much shorter distance than
a previous North Korean launch.Its failure raises questions over the
impoverished North's reclusive leadership which has one of the world's largest
standing armies but cannot feed its people without outside aid, largely from
its only powerful backer, China."(There is) no question that the failed
launch turns speculation toward the ramifications for the leadership in
Pyongyang: a fireworks display gone bad on the biggest day of the year,"
said Scott Snyder of the Council on Foreign Relations.In a highly unusual move,
the North, which still claims success with a 2009 satellite that others say
failed, admitted in a state television broadcast seen by its 23 million people
that the latest satellite had not made it into orbit.The failure is the first
major and very public challenge for the third of the Kim dynasty to rule North
Korea just months into the leadership of a man believed to be in his late 20s."It
could be indication of subtle change in the North Korean leadership in how they
handle these things, something that may be different from the past," said
Baek Seung-joo of the Korea Institute of Defense Analyses a thinktank
affiliated with South Korean Defence Ministry."I mean it would have been
unthinkable for them to admit this kind of failure in the past, something that
could be seen as an international humiliation. The decision to have come out
with the admission had to come from Kim Jong-un."Embarrassingly, the
rocket flew for just a few minutes covering a little over 100km to explode over
a sea separating the Korean peninsula and China, far less than the last rocket
in 2009 that travelled 3,800km, alarming Japan which it over-flew.The launch is
in breach of United Nations Security Council sanctions and drew condemnation
from the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan.But North Korea looks to
have avoided the threat of fresh UN sanctions - which neighbor Japan is pushing
for - after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that at talks with his
Chinese and Indian counterparts they had agreed new sanctions would do nothing
to help resolve the situation.Regional powers are worried that the North is
using launches to perfect technology to enable it to build a missile capable of
delivering a nuclear warhead to the United States.North Korea has repeatedly
defended its right to launch rockets for what it says are peaceful purposes and
may have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the failed launch.China,
the North's main backer, again appealed for "calm", although its
failure to dissuade Pyongyang from undertaking the launch despite propping up
the ailing and impoverished state, showed the limitations of its diplomacy,
analysts said."North Korea's provocative action threatens regional
security, violates international law and contravenes its own recent
commitments," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.The North American
Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD, said the first stage fell into the sea west
of South Korea and the remainder was deemed to have failed."No debris fell
on land," NORAD said. "At no time were the missile or the resultant
debris a threat."
Chavez vows to knock out rivals despite tiring treatment
Feisty Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez acknowledged today that radiation treatment for cancer was wearing him
down, but he vowed to squash his opponents in October's presidential election.Ramping
up the political rhetoric at a huge rally to mark the 10th anniversary of his
return to power after a brief coup, Chavez said three sessions of radiation
therapy in Cuba had taken their toll.But he was more combative than usual,
vowing to win the October 7 "by a knock-out," repeatedly denouncing
his opponents as upper-class "bourgeoisie losers," and launching a
new anti-coup force that would prevent any repeat of the events of 2002."I
continue to recover from the surgery. The radiation has an impact on my body,
it has some impact on my physical strength, but I am doing well. We will be
alright, thank God," he told tens of thousands of supporters clad in red
T-shirts in honor of his ruling Socialist Party.Chavez, 57, said his doctors
had not decided whether he was fit to attend a summit of the hemisphere's
leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, this weekend in Colombia.If he
did attend, it would only be for a few hours before continuing on to Havana for
a fourth session of radiation treatment. This time, he told the rally from the
balcony of the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, he would spend the
whole week in Cuba - longer than his recent trips.The president said he wanted
to avoid "coming and going."His frequent visits to a tightly guarded
hospital on the Communist-led island means he is taking himself off the
political stage for much of the time, just as the opposition's candidate
Henrique Capriles pushes on with a national campaign.The political temperature
has heated up with the coup anniversary. All week, state TV has played video of
the dramatic events of April 11-13, when big marches by both sides clashed in
the streets around Miraflores and about 20 people died.Chavez was ousted from
power for two days until giant demonstrations by his supporters, and allies in
the military, returned him to power in a saga that has taken on almost
religious overtones for some passionate "Chavistas."A decade later,
they still fume at the illegality of how he was ousted from office. It is also
an emotional date for some in the opposition who had a brief taste of
long-sought power and a sense of what a post-Chavez Venezuela might feel like.Others
in the opposition were happy to see him replaced, if only temporarily, but
remain upset by how it happened.Chavez routinely accuses his political foes of
plotting another attempt to seize power by force."Prepare yourselves to
receive the biggest and most crushing defeat," he said as the crowd
cheered.He gave very few details of the new anti-coup force he launched today,
but his fiery comments set the stage for a bitterly contested election.They
follow threats he made recently to nationalize private banks and any other
local businesses that he said were supporting the opposition in its
"violent plan" to topple him."We will make them repent
forever," he said last month.While he has a solid 13 percentage point lead
over Capriles in the most recent poll published last month, many Venezuelans
remain undecided and Chavez faces his toughest electoral challenge.His illness
has cast further doubt over the future of the man who has dominated politics in
South America's biggest oil exporter during his 13 years in office.Very little
is known about Chavez's health, including the type of cancer he is battling. He
has undergone three operations in Cuba in less than a year
and rumors persist that he is more ill than he has admitted.
