El 21 de noviembre,\u00a0Corea del Norte anunci\u00f3 que ha logrado poner en \u00f3rbita un sat\u00e9lite esp\u00eda militar despu\u00e9s de dos fracasos anteriores. La agencia estatal de noticias difundi\u00f3 el mi\u00e9rcoles im\u00e1genes de un cohete que lo transportaba el ‘Malligyong-1’ desde la provincia de Pyongan del Norte. En ellas se ve al l\u00edder norcoreano Kim Jong-un atento a la misi\u00f3n, primero, y sonriendo y saludando, junto a operarios norcoreanos, despu\u00e9s. El secretario general de la ONU, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, conden\u00f3 el lanzamiento.<\/p>\n
On November 21, North Korea made its\u00a0third attempt<\/a>\u00a0of 2023 to launch a reconnaissance satellite. The North did so despite this launch violating multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions and despite the urging of many other countries. While the North has not explained the whole logic behind the launch, a broader view of North Korea suggests that it may well have been a desperate move by North Korea’s leader,\u00a0Kim Jong-un<\/a>.<\/p>\n After all, why does North Korea need reconnaissance satellites? According to a\u00a0news bulletin<\/a>, \u201cThe North defended the latest launch as its ‘legitimate’ right to strengthen ‘self-defensive capabilities.’\u201d Kim further said the satellite was\u00a0needed<\/a>\u00a0to \u201ccurb dangerous invasion moves by the hostile forces.\u201d This is consistent with the North’s constant refrain that the United States is an inveterately hostile enemy anxious to invade\u2014conveniently justifying the sacrifices of the North Korean people to fund huge military budgets (estimated between\u00a020 and 30 percent of GDP (PDF<\/abbr>)<\/a>). The regime also uses U.S. hostility to explain its many failures as a government.<\/p>\n But why would the United States ever want to invade North Korea? The United States would have very little to gain and yet would pay an incredible price in treasure and lives by invading the North before even considering North Korean nuclear weapons. Indeed, over the years, the United States has\u00a0consistently sought to de-escalate<\/a>\u00a0North Korean military attack provocations, fearing that retaliation in kind would risk an escalatory spiral into a major, unwanted war.<\/p>\n Moreover, North Korea\u00a0appears to have agents<\/a>\u00a0(spies) placed in the ROK and\u00a0many other parts of the world<\/a>\u00a0who already collect many of the kinds of information that a reconnaissance satellite might seek. Of course, North Korea is\u00a0in the process<\/a>\u00a0of recalling its personnel from foreign locations, probably concerned by their exposure to outside information that really scares Kim.<\/p>\n The North has depended upon its elites to take overseas assignments, hoping their loyalty to the regime will insulate them from being \u201ccorrupted\u201d by what they see and hear in the outside world. According to a\u00a0North Korean defector<\/a>, \u201cFrankly speaking, those who have worked abroad for an extended period understand that the North Korean regime and the country are not a normal state and system.\u201d Exposure to the outside world significantly undermines the regime’s propaganda myths, and according to North Korean escapees with whom I have spoken, some of this external information is carefully passed on to friends and family when those overseas return home. Still,\u00a0other defectors<\/a>\u00a0claim that \u201cmonths of ‘reeducation’ sessions, or even forced labor, await thousands of overseas North Koreans when they return home for the first time in over three and a half years.\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n