North Korea is going to launch a satellite into space, and the West doesn’t like it. Why? They want you to think that it’s because they feel threatened that this could be a secret missile test. Their own people say otherwise, though (emphasis added):
U.S. intelligence analysts continue to believe that North Korea aims to launch a communications satellite rather than conducting a missile test, which would violate a U.N. resolution. However, the rocket launch would yield data directly applicable to its long-range ballistic missile program.
Of course the same technology used in aerospace is also used for warfare. But the same could be said of anything. What’s next? Is North Korea not allowed to have commercial airliners because airplanes can also carry bombs? Maybe we should pass a UN Resolution banning reading in North Korea because Koreans could read about military tactics and that would be bad.
I don’t buy the whole “dual purpose” argument.
What I think this is, is an attempt by the West to keep the Koreans from becoming self-sufficient. All the sanctions imposed against the DPRK for doing things that we do on a routine basis — like having nuclear power plants and maintaining a nuclear arsenal — wouldn’t really work if some day they were to become self sufficient and not rely on other countries to get by. And one thing that the West can cut off from the Koreans is communications…that is, unless they can put their own satellites into space.
It’s no secret that North Korea has some serious problems and is in many ways a backward country. But every time they try to do something to bring themselves out of the “dark ages”, whether it be by building a nuclear power plant or launching a satellite into space, Washington, Tokyo and Seoul step in and say “you can’t do that!” Say what you will about North Korea, but can you blame them for telling the rest of the world to fuck off? If I were a North Korean I would be tired of more powerful countries treating me like the little kid everyone pushes around. I think that’s exactly how they feel, which is why they’re always making “provacative” maneuvers.
