N. Korea shouts 'look at me' with rocket

Excerpt:

The curious timing of North Korea's Unha-3 rocket launch, outside of its usual spring-summer launch window, raises questions about the political motivations behind Pyongyang's attention-grabbing move.
…
Taking heed of launch and the usual caveats about reading North Korean government behavior, we can discern three motives underlying Pyongyang's latest move: international bargaining, domestic legitimacy and strategic leverage.

Or the test was necessary to advance their program.

V/R

Dave

N. Korea shouts 'look at me' with rocket

By Benjamin Habib, Special to CNN

updated 9:18 PM EST, Tue December 11, 2012

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/11/opinion/north-korea-rocket-timing/

North Korean technicians check the Unha-3 rocket at Tangachai -ri space center on April 8, 2012.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Report: North Korea launches long-range rocket Wednesday
• Habib: Timing of North Korean regime rocket launch is out of ordinary
• Habib: Successful launch would be sterling commemoration of Kim Jong Il's death

Editor's note: Benjamin Habib is a Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Habib is an internationally published scholar with research and teaching interests including the political economy of North Korea's nuclear program, East Asian security, international politics of climate change.

Melbourne (CNN) -- The curious timing of North Korea's Unha-3 rocket launch, outside of its usual spring-summer launch window, raises questions about the political motivations behind Pyongyang's attention-grabbing move.

On Wednesday morning, just before 10 a.m. local time, South Korean news agency Yonhap and the Japanese government reported that the rocket had been launched. It came just days after North Korea extended the launch window due to technical issues.

Read more: North Korea rocket breaks up in flight

Taking heed of launch and the usual caveats about reading North Korean government behavior, we can discern three motives underlying Pyongyang's latest move: international bargaining, domestic legitimacy and strategic leverage.

This year, Northeast Asia is experiencing a unique convergence of elections and leadership transitions in the United States, China, Japan and South Korea. This follows the change of leadership in North Korea in December 2011.

(Continued at the link below)

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/11/opinion/north-korea-rocket-timing/