North Korea..

[stackmonkey]

is to 'launch satellites one after another'.

My first reaction was "and we will watch them fall into the sea one after another."

Trying to save face, obviously.
But why are they spending so much on satellites or missiles instead of food?

[obob]

Why do India, Why do the US, Why does anyone. Posturing.

Who cares if millions of your people are starving.

[fido]

Male Inadequacy.

[martin84]

North Korea is obsessed with saving face, as it were. They are obsessed with projecting a certain image. If you were to get into North Korea you'd only be allowed in the capital City and you'd only get to see the best bits - the bits they want you to see. They wont let you see their dead countryside which was picked clean during the famine and nor will they let you see the conditions most North Koreans live in. This is a country which paid millions to build a museum to house all gifts ever given to Kim Ill Sung - the Eternal Leader - rather than spend it on feeding citizens.

Its a country where most people don't know a man has walked on the moon. Its a country of such starvation that people lose their sight in their 20s. Kim Jong Ill was a strange individual - to put it lightly - but those who met him such as Mrs Albright from the US Government were at least able to determine he wasn't totally crazy. He never quite had the military on his side, especially when the Clinton Administration were forced to renege on many promises made to North Korea after a newly elected Republican house refused to approve them. Kim was made to look like an idiot.

Now they've got a 30 year old unproven unknown person in charge who no doubt wants to make sure everybody knows he is boss. Interesting times indeed.