North Korean Missile Test Preparations...

[Count Chocula]

^ Sea Skimmer's information above has me equating North Korea to a grumpy, old, half-dead tiger - it's really not all that dangerous compared to a healthy specimen, but has enough energy left for a couple of claw swipes before it goes down. Which, I suppose, would make them dangerous in the short term if they attacked the ROK or felt pushed into a corner, but ultimately not a significant player in the region. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Recent reports suggest that Kim Jong Il selected his youngest son for succession. Little is know of this youngling and I am not sure what will happen when he takes over.

[Prannon]

You know, Hangul takes only...I'd say a week at most to learn.

Hangeul takes around a week to learn, yes, but that's because "Hangeul" is only the alphabet. I already have that down. Actually learning the language though...that's a whole different ball game. One of the teachers at my school has been here for seven years, and he studies Korean with a passion. I asked him, and he told me that he still wouldn't consider himself fluent. Keep in mind that Korean has a completely different grammatical system on top of a different alphabet, and that would take getting used to. Also, a lot of the vocabulary is interchangeable depending on the context, with words that sound the same but mean different things (in the to, too, two sense). So, to respond, while it may take only a week or so to learn the alphabet, no, it does not take a week to learn the language, at least not well enough to understand what everyone around me is saying when I'm eating lunch. That said, I'll admit that I have a book that would help me learn the language, but I'm lazy in reading it.

Anyway, I think Chocula's analogy is fairly accurate. North Korea could cause a whole lot of trouble, especially if cornered. That's why we see them posturing all the time with their missile launches and so on and so forth, trying to get us to back off and force us to negotiate somewhat on its terms. Actually overthrowing the ROK though? Destroying the government? The chances of that are pretty slim.

[hongi]

Hangeul takes around a week to learn, yes, but that's because "Hangeul" is only the alphabet. I already have that down. Actually learning the language though...that's a whole different ball game. One of the teachers at my school has been here for seven years, and he studies Korean with a passion. I asked him, and he told me that he still wouldn't consider himself fluent. Keep in mind that Korean has a completely different grammatical system on top of a different alphabet, and that would take getting used to. Also, a lot of the vocabulary is interchangeable depending on the context, with words that sound the same but mean different things (in the to, too, two sense). So, to respond, while it may take only a week or so to learn the alphabet, no, it does not take a week to learn the language, at least not well enough to understand what everyone around me is saying when I'm eating lunch. That said, I'll admit that I have a book that would help me learn the language, but I'm lazy in reading it.

Eh, I was going to comment and then I realised I didn't know squat about the Korean language, though it seems easy enough to relearn if I get around to it. So...do you watch the tv shows? I've thought the fascinating with game shows utterly bizarre whenever I was there.

[MKSheppard]

It just gets better and better:

[Japanese newspaper] Sankei said in a separate dispatch from Washington that 15 personnel from the Iranian satellite and missile development company Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group are staying in North Korea at the invitation of the North Korean government.

Quoting unnamed intelligence sources in Washington it said are close to North Korean affairs, Sankei said the Iranians are likely to join North Korean preparations for the launch and also observe it. The report said North Korea sent missile experts to Iran when it launched a satellite in February.

North Korea is believed to have sold missiles to Iran, and Iran's Safir-Omid space launch vehicle owes much to the North's Taepodong missile.

To quote Cuffy from Closing Velocity:

"Iranians in North Korea, North Koreans in Iran. It's as if WMD proliferation is something around which the North Koreans and Iranians revolve. An "axis," if you will."

[Prannon]

Eh, I was going to comment and then I realised I didn't know squat about the Korean language, though it seems easy enough to relearn if I get around to it. So...do you watch the tv shows? I've thought the fascinating with game shows utterly bizarre whenever I was there.

I don't have cable yet, so I haven't been able to watch any TV. Never much of a TV watcher to begin with anyway.

[Pelranius]

It just gets better and better:

[Japanese newspaper] Sankei said in a separate dispatch from Washington that 15 personnel from the Iranian satellite and missile development company Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group are staying in North Korea at the invitation of the North Korean government.

Quoting unnamed intelligence sources in Washington it said are close to North Korean affairs, Sankei said the Iranians are likely to join North Korean preparations for the launch and also observe it. The report said North Korea sent missile experts to Iran when it launched a satellite in February.

North Korea is believed to have sold missiles to Iran, and Iran's Safir-Omid space launch vehicle owes much to the North's Taepodong missile.

To quote Cuffy from Closing Velocity:

"Iranians in North Korea, North Koreans in Iran. It's as if WMD proliferation is something around which the North Koreans and Iranians revolve. An "axis," if you will."

Can the Iranians demand a refund if the test fails?