The North Koreans are taking a cue from the Iranians, when you want to test fire your long range missiles, just say they are part of your space program:

NORTH Korea has declared it is actively pursuing a space program, amid reports from US and South Korean officials that Pyongyang is preparing to test fire a long-range missile.

Rodong Sinmun, the official daily of the ruling communist party, said the North had every right to develop a space program, as a member of the international community.

“The DPRK’s (North Korea) policy of advancing to space for peaceful purposes is a justifiable aim that fits the global trend of the times. There is no power in the world that can stop it,” the newspaper said in an editorial.

“As long as developing and using space are aimed at peaceful purposes and such efforts contribute to enhancing human beings’ happiness, no one in the world can find fault with them.”

It noted that Iran on Monday successfully launched a satellite carried by a home-built rocket, setting alarm bells ringing among Western powers because of the implications for the range of its ballistic missiles.  [The Australian]

Maybe what Kim Jong-il is trying to do is create his own space tourism business!  I am willing to bet there are plenty of leftists in South Korea and “intellectuals” in the West that would believe this.

The big question is that why does the international community have moral responsbility to send hundreds of millions of dollars in food and aid to North Korea every year when they have enough money to start a “space program”?