North Korea has launched its long-range missile, but it failed to enter space, showing the satellite (or whatever acted like the warhead) failed to detach from the rest of the missile. Epic fail.

Apparently, the North Koreans thought a war was a possibility as a result of the launch, as the country was on maximum alert and may have even deployed nuclear warheads ahead of it.

Frequent drills also indicated the North Koreans were preparing for a possible war ahead of the launch. As one reader said, “the DPRK has apparently gone to their equivalent of DEFCON 1.” This second article shows that the DPRK went on “wartime operational status” on April 1.

According to this report, North Korea deployed nuclear weapons ahead of the launch, indicating they were serious about striking back if the missile was intercepted by Japan or the U.S., or perhaps just preparing for the worst.  It’s also possible they did this with the intention of the West knowing about it.

I received the information from the national intelligence agency of a certain country that they believe North Korea has deployed nuclear warheads at two underground facilities for Rodong missiles,” Daniel Pinkston, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, told The Daily Telegraph from Seoul.

“We estimate that North Korea has as many as 320 Rodong missiles, which can be launched from mobile transporters anywhere in the country, and we are assessing the threat these pose,” he said.

The report says the Rodong (or Nodong as we call it) missiles have a 1300 kilometer range, allowing them to reach Japan and the U.S. bases located there.

Posted by Ryan Mauro at 8:14 am
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