Even after announcing their plan to launch a “satellite” into space on the back of a rocket, which the international community determined as the test-firing of a missile, North Korean leaders seem to be still hoping that they will receive food aid from the United States under an agreement last February.
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Li Yong-ho said in Beijing that the plan to launch “Bright Star-3” between April 12 and 16 is a “separate issue” from the U.S.-North agreement on the suspension of Pyongyang’s uranium enrichment program in exchange for the U.S. supply of 240,000 tons of nutritional aid to the North. He insisted that the agreement mentioned nuclear and missile tests and not a satellite launch.
Yet, nations mounted pressure on North Korea to cancel the launch, which could possibly be followed by a nuclear test. Washington warned Pyongyang that there will be no food aid if it goes ahead with the launch. China took the unusual step of calling the North Korean ambassador to Beijing to the office of the vice foreign minister on the night of the announcement in Pyongyang to express regret and demand the cancellation of the plan. Japan warned it would intercept the North Korean rocket should it fly toward its territory.
Behind the condemnations, the world is genuinely puzzled by the abruptness of the North’s scrapping of a bilateral agreement with the U.S. just two weeks after its announcement in Beijing. An easy interpretation is the North Korean military’s overpowering of diplomats to push through the rocket program while the power structure in Pyongyang is still unstable in the aftermath of Kim Jong-il’s death in December. Or, the celebration of the centennial of the DPRK founder Kim Il-sung is such an important event that they can risk losing 240,000 tons of food aid.
Besides, North Korean leaders are paying little attention to the politics in South Korea this time. Pyongyang’s announcement of a rocket/missile launch so close to the general elections in the South could have an impact on the voters here, possibly helping the anti-North conservatives, but they did not care. The greatest task is to complete the fantasy of achieving a “mighty, prosperous state” with the magnificent rocket launch on the centennial of the founder’s birthday, while everything else can be sacrificed.
