by Patrick Appel
Evan Osnos resists rubbing North Korea's failure in its face:
The launch was always geared toward a domestic audience, a celebration intended to solidify the reputation of young, untested leader Kim Jong-un. He flunked that test, but at his level of North Korean politics, no child is left behind, and he—or, more importantly, the military and civilian leaders who depend on him for their power—must now demonstrate their relevance and vitality. The last time around, after the 2009 rocket failure, that meant a nuclear test. A year later, North Korea sank a South Korean ship, killing forty-six sailors. Then it shelled a South Korean island.
The Dish 