North Korea's sense of timing Waiting for the warhead

North Korea's sense of timing Waiting for the warhead Apr 30th 2012, 6:30 by D.T. | SEOUL, The Economist  THEIR display missiles are apparently fake, and their real ones rather hit-or-miss. But it will be harder to laugh at North Korea if they are able to launch one that bears an atomic warhead. And, as shown in satellite photos released by 38 North this weekend, it appears that the Pyongyang regime is indeed close to readying a third nuclear test.   The pictures show that extensive excavation work seems to have been done at the Punggye-ri site, where previous tests were staged in 2006 and 2009. Both those tests were held soon after rocket launches. Past form then would suggest it is high time for a new nuclear detonation. The fact that the April 14th launch failed so publicly may make it even more necessary to hold one, in the eyes of the government.   America and South Korea are now all but certain that this will happen. Analysts are only unsure about the timing of the test. If it goes ahead, the first to know will likely be seismologists, as was the case last time.   February 29th 2012 now seems a very long time ago. The first major diplomatic event of the Kim Jong Un era, the “Leap Day Agreement”—in which a freeze in nuclear tests, uranium enrichment, and long-range missile launches was traded for 240,000 tonnes of food (mostly biscuits)—looked too good to be true at the time. It may be that the North thought the April 14th launch a tolerable exception to the deal, a view which did not take overseas. Regardless, it looks like the younger Kim has inherited his father’s tactical genius for passive-aggressive foreign relations.   Meanwhile, the vitriolic propaganda campaign against South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has reached new levels. The DPRK Twitter feed “uriminzok” recently added the prefix “rat-baby” (a curse in Korean) to its usual reference to the Lee “traitor faction”. And those who still wonder about the prospects for a Lee-Kim summit before a new South Korean president is elected in December should take a look at this video, courtesy ITN.   (Picture credit: uriminzokkiri)