North Korea & Kim Jong Il Defy World and Barack Obama as they Launch Long Range Missile

Let this be a lesson to all. It does not matter who or what party the President of the United States is to determine who our enemies are. As Obama calls for a world without nukes, North Korea and Kim Jong Il could care less.

North Korea and their defiant dictator Kim Jong Il have once again snubbed their nose at the world and put forth the challenge to new American President Barack Obama. On the very day that Obama was to give a speech in Europe on the reduction of nuclear weapons, Kim Jong Il has begun a new game of chicken with a different American President as North Korea launched a new long range missile.

North Korea is stating that the missile launch was a success and that the satellite is broadcasting music; however, that is not confirmed and is being disputed.   

The launching of the North Korean missile drew condemnation from the United States and the world. U.S. says that the payload fell into the ocean.

The United States Northern Command issued a statement that North Korea’s Taepodong 2 missile flew over Japan, with its payload landing in the Pacific Ocean. “No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan,” the assessment said.

Still, the launching drew swift international condemnation and prompted the U.N. Security Council to convene an emergency meeting on Sunday in which the United States, Japan and South Korea vowed to penalize the North.

Barack Obama has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to deal with the North Korean missile launch issue. Why? What will the UN do, create more rules that Kim Jong Il will laugh at? Obama stated that,”Words must mean something”. Really, since when if they come from the UN? I think it is safe to say that North Korea and Kim Jong Il could care less what the UN says or any International response. Kim Jong Il is not going to suddenly change his stripes just because Barack Obama was elected President.

“This provocation underscores the need for action, not just this afternoon at the UN Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons,” he said. “Rules must be binding, violations must be punished, words must mean something”.

“The world must stand together to prevent the spread of these weapons. Now is the time for a strong international response.” (Barack Obama during speech in Prague)

UPDATE I: Obama Calls For a World without Nukes Hours After North Korea Missile Launch

Hours after Kim Jong Il began his new game of chicken with Barack Obama, the American President in a speech in Prague called for “a world without nuclear weapons. Obviously, Kim Jong Il timed the launch of the missile to be prior to the new President’s speech. During Obama’s speech in Prague, with teleprompters, Obama states that it was the United States has a “moral responsibility ” to lead the way, as the only  nation ever to use them.

The president, who was woken up just after 4:30 a.m. local time by news of the launch, spoke to the authoritarian state in remarks hastily added to his text.

“Now is the time for a strong international response, and North Korea must know that the path to security and respect will never come through threats and illegal weapons,” Obama said to thousands thronged into the cobblestone square outside the elegant Prague Castle, in what was the largest crowd of his five-country, eight-day swing.

“All nations must come together to build a stronger, global regime. And that’s why we must stand shoulder to shoulder to pressure the North Koreans to change course.”

Even without what Obama called North Korea’s “provocation,” the speech was set against considerable symbolism.

The president directly addressed the Cold War history of this former Soviet bloc city, calling the remaining nuclear weapons “the most dangerous legacy” of that era.
He again pointed to history to say that America must lead. “As a nuclear power – as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon – the United States has a moral responsibility to act,” he said.

UPDATE II: Is Barack Obama’s Peace Through Weakness the Right Move for American National Defense?

The Gateway Pundit reminds us of Obama’s campaign promises of “peace through weakness”. This hardly seems like it is in the national interest of the defense of the US to degrade the United States nuclear arsenal and uphold the liberal dream of the elimination of all nukes while rogue nations follow no rules in gaining them.

“I will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons. To seek that goal, I will not develop new nuclear weapons; I will seek a global ban on the production of fissile material; and I will negotiate with Russia to take our ICBMs off hair-trigger alert, and to achieve deep cuts in our nuclear arsenals.”

Barack Obama
October 22, 2007