North Korea's rocket didn't reach orbit, but Kim's in another world

"Reporting from Seoul — Who cares if the whole world is calling North Korea's weekend space launch a dud – that the regime's vaunted communications satellite probably now sits somewhere on the Pacific Ocean floor?

Self-proclaimed Dear Leader Kim Jong Il still insists that his crack staff of rocket scientists boldly launched a craft into orbit Sunday. And no one is going to tell him any differently.

A release from North Korea's state-run press today said Kim watched the launch at the nation's Satellite Control and Command Center and has deemed the effort "successful."

"It is a striking demonstration of the might of our Juche-oriented science and technology that our scientists and technicians developed both the multistage carrier rocket and the satellite with their own wisdom and technology [and] 100 percent and accurately put the satellite into orbit at one go," the Korea Central News Agency quoted Kim as saying.

Such proclamations have analysts scratching their heads, asking the perhaps impolite question: What planet is this guy living on?

"Kim Jong Il doesn't care about what the rest of the world thinks – all he cares about is what he says himself," said Brian Myers, assistant professor Dongseo University and an expert on North Korean propaganda.

"This is an extreme ethno-nationalist government that in its own eyes is unequivocally virtuous and unequivocally moral. All other races are not to be trusted. But the real story is that, if you are a military dictator, you need constant victories."

As the U.N. Security Council debates sanctions over the launch, which crossed Japanese air space before the rocket's three stages and satellite payload plunged into the Pacific, Pyongyang did not mention assertions that it had perpetrated yet another world crisis.

There was no response to reports that Japan today said it plans to extend sanctions against North Korea in light of its reckless launch.

No, this was a day of celebration. Forget past long-range missile test failures or a bungled 1998 attempt to put a satellite into space that would have beamed patriotic songs back to the homeland.

Instead, Kim said his Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite brought North Korea closer to conquering outer space. He praised "the patriotic devotion of the scientists and technicians who are playing a vanguard role in the drive to open the gate to a great prosperous and powerful nation," according to the North's state-run media.

But a photo the agency released of Kim reportedly meeting and posing with his "scientists and technicians" shows a breakdown in the story line. Instead of celebratory, the mood of Kim and his underlings looks downright somber, mannequin-stiff.

Judging by photos, this was no party. It was a funeral.

South Korean analysts say that when it comes to Kim and his isolated state, nothing shocks anymore. Yang Moo-jin, a professor at University of North Korean Studies, said Kim's stubborn insistence that the launch succeeded is his way of playing to his audience.

"(North Korea) is a propaganda nation," he said, adding that by stressing that Kim observed the launch, the government is telling its citizens "that their Dear Leader did this."

As far as the message to the rest of the world, Yang said, North Korea "has nothing left but brinkmanship. It is just throwing a temper tantrum." (more)