| The Hermit Kingdom has been getting awfully crabby in recent headlines, and Bellum proposes that itâs time to step back and formulate a recourse to the inevitable: Parallel to intimating that it will shoot down South Korean aircraft that enter its airspace during the course of war games with the United States and that it will confront the âpuppet stateâ on its disputed western sea border, North Korean authorities claim that they will soon launch an innocuous âcommunications satelliteâ that it has been preparing since January. Of course, as with most snarky announcements out of DPRKâs state-run Korean Central News Agency, the noise has got analysts up in arms on suspicions that the object-in-question may instead be a malevolent Taepodong-2 missile capable of reaching the western United States (and thereby picking up where Yasuyo Yamazaki left off in 1943, harrying Aleut-Americans just trying to go about their business). Upon further inquiry, NKâs spokesman betrayed juche by responding with a Buddhist coan, legacy of an earlier subjugated age: âOne will come to know later what will be launchedâ. Zen indeed. |