Some of us here in Korea teaching are a bit uneasy about the recent activities of the next door neighbor who can be said to be a little (maybe an understatement here) coo coo. But should we as Americans (foreigners) be nervous in Korea? We are half way around the world from home. Should we down-play the threat like many seem to be doing?
The story we are getting from the media is not clear. We are not sure what to think or how big the threat is. BBC reports,
‘No threat to US’
In a statement on its website, the US Northern Command said North Korea launched a three-stage Taepodong-2 missile at 0230 GMT.
“Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan/East Sea. The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean.
“No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan.”
US military authorities “assessed the space launch vehicle as not a threat to North America or Hawaii and took no action in response to this launch”, the statement added.
Earlier, state media in North Korea said that the “Kwangmyongsong-2″ satellite had been placed in orbit.
The satellite was transmitting data and the “Song of General Kim Il-sung” and “Song of General Kim Jong-Il” – references to the late founder of North Korea and his son, the current leader – the report said.
The BBC’s John Sudworth in Seoul says a failure would seriously detract from North Korea’s ability to exploit the propaganda value of the launch, although it may never admit it to its own people.
In a previous satellite launch attempt in 1998, North Korea said it was sending up a device that would orbit the world transmitting revolutionary melodies.
It claimed this was also successful but the launch is believed to have been a failure as no trace of the satellite was ever found.”
What do you think? There is a U.S military base not far from PyeongTaek, South Korea where I am but some of the teachers here from the states say that doesn’t matter if a missile in launched. South Korean troops are on high alert as well. Stay or go home? Have you been following the story? I would love to hear from you?
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I have been following this story quite so deal. Hilaray Clinton says the U.S. will not let N.Korea be a “bully” . This is a very interesting article. The U.S. media is not necessarily down playing the issue at hand, but they neglect to provide all the facts about what is going on as you mention in the BBC article. As of now tcountries in Asia argue the N. Korea’s threat is breaking the world peace policy, and as a result of this the U.S. is saying they will be tougher on their response if N. Korea does not calm down. Honestly, looking at the history of N.Korea and their various attempts I am not confident this is a huge issue, yet I am not saying we should sleep on N. Korea. I am simply saying more research needs to be done by us, as individuals, before we let the media pump us up with only half of the story. Again, great article.
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