CINA

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Yesterday the (North) Korean Committee of Space Technology announced that the "Preparations for Launch of Experimental Communications Satellite (are) in Full Gear"!! The name of the strange object: Gwangmyeongseong-2 (*), transported by the Eunha-2 missile.

But while the N.K. propaganda asserts that the launch of the "satellite" (**) is "essential for the construction of the socialist economic power in Korea" (KCNA), at the same time in the Communist Party of China circulate N.K. jokes, like following:

金正日万岁!

Comrade Jeong Man-yong, a farmer at an agriculture "collective" in the D.P.R.K., catches a large fish in the river. Exalted, comrade Jeong comes back home and asks his wife to fry the fish.
“We can have fried-fish for dinner!” said Jeong.
“But we don’t have oil.” countered his wife.
“Then, let’s have steamed fish.”
“We don’t have an iron pot either!”
“OK, then let's just grill it.”
“There is no firewood.”
Angrily Jung goes back to the river and lets the fish go free.
The fish circles around and jumps out of the water, yelling “Long live the General Kim Jong Il!”

김정일 장군님 만세!

* Gwangmyeongseong-1, according to KCNA, was launched 1998.8.31(well, untill now nobody in the int'l military/aerospace agencies has been able to detect the "satellite" visually, by radar, or to pick up its radio signals..) and until now, also according to KCNA, it's transmitting the melody of "Song of General Kim Il-sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong-il" and the Morse signals "Juche Korea" (very useful!!^^).

** Well, nobody believes in N.K.'s fable about the "satellite"! In fact almost everyone (in the int'l military/aerospace community) believes it will be just a new North Korean ICBM (Taepodong-2) test..

Related articles:

☞ Q+A: Why would N.K. test-fire its missiles? (Reuters, 2.24)

☞ North Korea has begun a game of “satellite” (Hankyoreh/analysis, 2.25)

☞ U.S. in 3-Stage Response to N.Korea 'Missile Test' (Chosun Ilbo, 2.25)

☞ Breaking the cycle of brinkmanship (Hankyoreh/editorial, 2.25)