Interesting recent WaPo article on South Korea’s rocket program. It has raised a number of questions, some of which were originally discussed in an earlier post.
Apparently, North Korea thinks it is a double standard to complain about their intercontinental ballistic missile peaceful rocket project and not their southern brethren’s.
“… disappoint officials in North Korea… issued a warning last week that they ‘will closely watch’ to see if Seoul’s neighbors raise objections and demand similar U.N. sanctions.”
“‘Their reaction and attitude towards South Korea’s satellite launch will once again clearly prove whether the principle of equality exists or has collapsed,’ a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry told the country’s official press agency.”
“Moon Tae-young, a deputy minister at South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, responded that any comparison between the two missile launches is ‘inappropriate.’”
Interesting though, but did anyone else notice Naro‘s uncanny resemblance to a Minuteman III?
UPDATE: The launch has been postponed for a month due to “software glitches.” The crowd waiting to see it launch was pretty disappointed.
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
Naro’s one ugly rocket. It’s white Matt as opposed to glossy, and it looks so duh, like a painful suppository. What’s with the stupid font and the stupid label? Like most everything else the Koreans make, it reminds me of that other atrocity – the robot which looked like a fridge with the head of a Einstein…..
mat
@Yuna– “matte”
Software glitch? Did someone pick up viruses on the computers while playing Starcraft or Sudden Attack? Or were they downloading porn?
With regard to North Korea’s protests of double standards. I don’t know if I like them less as bullies or whiny bitches.
tmc1233. thanks. I thought they both looked wrong as I was hitting the submit button. Starcraft? Porn? I’m not that kind of a girl.
How about as a girlfriend whom you cannot quite figure out whether she’s pretending to be a schizo or not ?
Yuna,
Mat, matt, and matte are all acceptable.
As for the double standard… Who would your trust more? South Koreans about to send their 12th satellite in space or North Koreans about to launch a missile a week after its last claims that it would rain fire on Seoul?
I just realized that the software glitch you meant referred to the rocket, not my typo. Looks like I left more than my spelling brain at home this morning..
Mat, matt, and matte are all acceptable.
Surely not Mat?
Matt is the correct form, as used on all the paint tins, in english english, but Matte is also acceptable, but perhaps in english english more pretentious.
Mat is a small carpet.
“Who would your trust more? South Koreans about to send their 12th satellite in space or North Koreans about to launch a missile a week after it’s last claims that it would rain fire on Seoul?”
Hmm the guy who you know who is bullshitting, or the guy you’re pretty sure does have the capability but isn’t stupid enough to warn you of an imminent attack under the guise of a firendly spacerocket test?
Argh,
Look it up. I’m just relaying what my dictionary says.
I have, I wouldn’t make such a comment without checking myself first?
Curious what dictionary are you using?
@ 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
he he. engrishee teecha fitahhhhhhhhhh!
I’ve found one reference but recorded only as an abbreviation not a word.
The etymology is the same but not the meaning? Genuinely curious?
Footbat, only if the fitahhhhhhh involves english teachers
I was wondering why nobody was mentioning the Great Delay or Delays.
Anyway, after reading the WaPo article, I couldn’t help but laugh at the article itself, including its main point;
What WaPo does not mention is that thanks to the decision made a while back by the Korean government to depend on Russian technology, Korea is essentially orbiting the satellite using a Russian launch vehicle and related technology including “software”, which puts into question whether Korea will become part of the so called “elite club” or that it can conduct “long range missile strikes”.
Besides the launch location, how is all this different from let’s say Korea paying the United Launch Alliance to have a satellite placed in orbit using an Atlas V launch vehicle?
In all seriousness, that idiot who forgot to install all the appropriate ActiveX controls should be fired right away!
Seriously, the idiot in question is probably Russian. Fire the Russian, bye bye satellite launch. Not that I think the Koreans have any control over the Russian technicians camped out in the Naro Space Center.
# 15,
My thoughts exactly. Software development is Korean industry’s Achilles Heel.
Korea has weaknesses in the research and development of both hardware and software. Unless of course they can take a peek at something that the Japanese, Europeans, Russians or Americans have already developed.
Heck, the culture here discourages long term, patient research and development while at the same time encourages quickie results that can be only gained by buying and reverse engineering non Korean technology.
I’m surprised that you do not already know this, WangKon.
I know this. However, once gaining equality Korean manufacturers do find ways to surpass the R&D of companies they formally copied. Samsung’s LED and OLED technology is now better than Sony’s and no one can equal LG Chem’s lithium polymer technology (except maybe another Korean company such as Samsung SDI or Kokam).
The question is… do the Chinese have a similar talent? If they do, then the whole world has a problem on their hands…
Argh,
That would be Webster’s…
http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/mat
Why, honestly no, I noticed no similarities at all between the Three Staged solid fueled LGM-30G (Minuteman III) and the
Dual-Stage-To-Orbit Naro-1 with LOX/Kerosene, Russian built RD-191 as its primary stage (Khrunichev State Enterprise) and a Korean designed and built solid fueled second that has around half of the thrust of either the second or thirst stage of the minute man missiles. Other than the fact that, well, there is tapering between the stages. Wow, look at that, a tapered faring, can these Koreans do anything without copying the Americans?
Just to echo captBBQ, but yeah when discussing technical issues, it’s best to get your facts straight before slinging the rhetoric. Go to the arms control wonk for commentary from actual rocket scientists, there is no mistaking such a vehicle for an ICBM as it’s design explicitly point it out as a commercial satellite delivery vehicle. Theoretically it could be used as a weapon, but it would be sub-optimal. Like using a ford focus to tow another car when you could have just used a tow truck.
# 21 & # 22,
Ouch! I was trying to be funny but… fail.
#19
True WangKon, but that is after they get the technology from someone else.
What happens when they can’t get new technology to replace the existing technology?
What happens when they can’t get new technology to replace the existing technology?
Necessity is the mother of all invention. If Koreans continuously get challenged by other nations then they will pressure themselves to improve their technology. However, Korea generally does not break out with ground breaking technologies (with the notable exception of metal movable type) like the light bulb, atomic energy, computers, etc. They tend to improve technologies rather then invent stuff. Korea forever seems to be a technology follower, sometimes leader but never ground breaker.
Koreans did make the first portable mp3 player…but it was shelved because there was no demand.
Korea has a fair number of high quality inventors, researchers, and designers. It’s their global marketing and trendsetting capabilities that are the most lacking. Telling the world a fantastic new product has four distinct seasons just doesn’t cut it.
#20 thanks Someguy, interesting can’t remember ever being aware of it spelt that way, or maybe I saw it but it didn’t register because I assumed it was misspelt. Anyway, live and learn every day
Argh,
The word comes from the French word “mat” (t is silent, pronounced like the Korean word for hemp). It would be hard to argue that it is misspelled if the writer uses the original spelling, regardless of whether it was accidental or not.
Someguy, not sure what your point is, I’ve already acknowledged and thanked you for your reference to the alternate, of which I merely note that I was previously unaware, until your correcting reference.
his point is just telling us where it came from, PLUS demonstrating the useful knowledge that Korean word “ma” is hemp. (is this true? so the root which we also call MA which my mum pulps in the morning to add to my apple puree (which i thought up till now is yam) is not the same as hemp root is it?
bloody sino-gook language. so many words pronounced the same..
Yuna, I was referring to the sentence that followed.
don’t know about korean, but
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chinese-ma-hemp.png
The next Naro launch attempt has been set for Aug. 25th;
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/techscience/2009/08/21/97/0601000000AEN20090821006900320F.HTML
Hopefully, the Korean government will have better luck this time.
Unfortunately, not enough to make a difference. Besides as I mentioned before the culture here discourages R&D, so those who want to be original but can’t stand the discouraging culture here go overseas to do their thing.
It isn’t just the lack of marketing savvy, you know.
Argh,
I meant that most people who use the spelling ‘mat’ might have done so by mistake because the most common spelling is matte, not because they wanted to use the original French spelling as some of us do when we use an acute accent to spell words such as cafe, resume, and coup d’etat.
Ahh, OK I get you, yes indeed they may do so by mistake, but are in fact not mistaken. Gotcha. Thanks.
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