North Korea Launches Missile (Bumped And Update)

Update: The White House has issued a statement. This is my favorite part:

North Korea’s development and proliferation of ballistic missile technology pose a threat to the northeast Asian region and to international peace and security. The launch today of a Taepo-dong 2 missile was a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718, which expressly prohibits North Korea from conducting ballistic missile-related activities of any kind. With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations.

We will immediately consult with our allies in the region, including Japan and the Republic of Korea, and members of the U.N. Security Council to bring this matter before the Council. I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and to refrain from further provocative actions.

After Obama acknowledges that the N. Koreans ignored UN Resolutions, he calls on the N. Koreans to abide by them. This is smart and tough diplomacy?

And our response is to "consult" with people who have done nothing of consequence on this issue and have shown they pretty much don't care about it.

Compared to this idiot, I'm starting to miss the days of clear eyed realism and muscular military posture of Jimmy Carter.

Watching the coverage on CNNI is simply nauseating. The anchors, reporters and guests are falling over themselves to remind us how important it is to only follow the diplomatic track but we can't push to hard because that could lead the North Koreans to walk away from whatever talks we can set up.

Of course they are going to walk away, it's the only way to get us to follow them and offer them ever greater inducements to come back.

Quality comment snark from "exceller" that's sadly all too true:

Obama used harsher language condemning the US for it's arrogant attitude towards Europe.

Original post:

I'm sure we're working on setting up a meeting to create a summit that will produce a strongly worded letter.

North Korea defiantly carried out a provocative rocket launch Sunday that the U.S., Japan and other nations suspect was a cover for a test of its long-range missile technology.

Liftoff took place at 11:30 a.m. (0230GMT) Sunday from the coastal Musudan-ri launch pad in northeastern North Korea, the South Korean government said. In Washington, the State Department also confirmed the launch.

The rocket flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean, the Japanese broadcaster NHK said, citing its government.

"Our primary concern is to confirm safety and gather information," Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso told a news conference at his Tokyo office Sunday.

Too bad we don't have some sort of system that could intercept a missile like this. Oh wait we do, at least for now. Too bad we aren't willing to use it.

The left will no doubt ooh and ahh over the inevitable Obama talk about international cooperation and the need to get the UN involved. All of this will of course be compared to Cowboy Bush.

Just remember there are plenty of UN Resolutions on this matter, including one that says N. Korea can't do this (passed during the Bush Reign of Terror). Obviously the North Koreans were less than impressed with them.

It's ironic how the people who claim how important the UN s are the ones who do the most damage to it by demanding that no real actions be taken thus showing how impotent and irrelevant it is as an institution.

posted by DrewM. at 11:57 PM

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