hankyoreh

North Korea carried out its long-range rocket launch yesterday. The attempt was a big enough failure that even the country’s own authorities had to acknowledge it, which is unusual for them. But that does not seem likely to do much in offsetting the ramifications of the launch. Its negative effects on the security situation in East Asia are now unavoidable, with major nations unanimously denouncing the launch and the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) calling it a violation of UNSC Resolutions 1718 and 1874.
The decision to go ahead with it deals a blow to the Feb. 29 agreement between the US and North Korea and makes the prospects of a resumption of the six-party talks even more bleak. Pyongyang must have seen this coming, and it should rightly be blamed for its short-sightedness and irresponsibility in executing the launch in spite of international objections.
North Korea claimed that the rocket was carrying a satellite, the Kwangmyongsong-3, and that it had nothing to do with any long-range missile launch, which it agreed to halt in its Feb. 29 agreement with Washington. To substantiate these claims, it invited foreign journalists to show the preparations at the launch base, an unprecedented move for the country. But the international community was unconvinced. The US and other countries warned of higher-level sanctions and a withdrawal of the food aid pledged as part of the Feb. 29 agreement if the launch was carried out. Their argument was that the technology for the satellite rocket was no different from a long-range military missile and that UNSC Resolution 1874, which was adopted in 2009, called for a halt to any rocket launches using ballistic missile technology. One cannot help worrying about a possible vicious cycle in which sanctions for the rocket launch are met with a hard-line response.
Most worrisome of all for South Koreans is the possibility that Pyongyang will carry out a third nuclear test, just as it performed a second one in 2009. Nuclear weapons development is unacceptable in and of itself, but the effects of another nuclear test on Pyongyang’s relations with Washington and Seoul would be catastrophic. The missile launch and second nuclear test thwarted North Korean hopes of improved relations with the Barack Obama administration and led to further strain in inter-Korean relations.
We need to ensure that this kind of worst-case scenario never happens again. However resolutely Pyongyang responds, it should not be so emotional or aggressive as to benefit the hawks on either side. The important thing is to bring North Korea into dialogue and negotiations. To look at it now, the failure of the launch may actually be helpful in lowering the tone of its response.
We urge North Korean to give up on its reckless adventurism, which was fully apparent in this failure that saw it forfeit both justification and practical gains. And we hope it listens to the charges from outside that it is merely exacerbating its own isolation by wasting money on weapons development and regime propaganda while letting its people starve.
　
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