Failure To Launch

It was meant to be a glorious birthday celebration of North Korea's founder and ruling dynasty, Kim Il-Sung: the launch of an intermediate range ballistic missile, in defiance of UN sanctions. But instead of a launch, it was a crash as the missile exploded on the launch pad. The grandson of the "Glorious Leader" who rules the country, young psychopath Kim Jong-Un, will not be pleased at the symbolic failure on such an auspicious occasion (he's had members of his family executed by rather exotically sick means, so those responsible for the failure are likely already dead).The failed launch follows another embarrassment to the North Korean regime: the defection of 13 North Korean restaurant workers to South Korea, via China.

China immediately condemned the attempt to launch the missile as "saber-rattling" on the part of its client state, suggesting that the Chinese government's patience has worn thin with the increasingly irrational Kim and his dangerous threats. China wields great influence within the North Korean armed forces and over their economy, so after this public condemnation, expect intense pressure from China on the erratic Kim to turn the heat down.