The cost of North Korea’s Taepodong launch
April 7th, 2009 by James
Mainichi reports on North Korea’s priorities:
A researcher at the National Intelligence Service estimated the cost of developing the missile at 300-500 million dollars, based on a previous statement by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il that the Taepodong-1 missile launched in 1998 cost between 200-300 million dollars.
Insiders close to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak say the launch itself cost around 300 million dollars, enough to break the famine sweeping much of the nation for a year.
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Sucks to be them. Too bad their expensive “communications satellite” (wink wink nudge nudge) bonked into the Pacific.
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sucks being north korean. but others in that country is loyal to kim jong il that they don’t care about the expense.
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The launch cost of Taepodong 2 seems extremely expensive. I wonder why. It’s far more expensive than the state-of-the-art launchers of today. Modern launchers (Ariane 5, Delta V, Atlas V, H2A) cost around 80 to 200 million dollars per launch. Here we are comparing lawnmowers (Taepodongs) and F1 cars (others).
The development cost of Taepodong as quoted in the beginning of the article sounds more or less believable, as the West typically spends 10 times as much to develop a launcher, as a rule of thumb.
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So you’re isolating their economy, blocking imports and exports, keeping them on an economic aid lifeline and you’re wondering why they’re so poor and in such a defensive position. Keep laughing at Cubans too for driving their 1950’s automobiles, at least they OWN them, not re-re-re-financing them through loans.
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no, we’re not wondering why they’re so poor. it seems they AREN’T poor – they just have their priorities a little different then most people.
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They aren’t poor?? I wonder what planet you’ve been living on.
So you think that “estimated” 300 million dollars would fix their economy while their trade is being blocked? The reason these dictators have the freedom to waste money on weapons and have the authority to be “supreme ruler”, is because they have an outside enemy trying to suffocate the country.
And while that “supreme ruler” can live in luxury his entire life, the only ones being hurt by the embargo are the people.
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You mean like the PRC was “suffocated” by the West?
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Of course, much like Cuba.
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i suppose it’s paid by chongryon zainichi and loyal n-korean-japanese anyway … it could be an interesting documentary- “pachinko -taepodong connection”
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My heart goes out to the North Korean people. They’re the real losers here. The government guys are losers too, but in a different sense of the word.
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Selfish leader.
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even the picture seems to be photoshoped.
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It is nothing compared to some countries that spend trillions to fuel an illegal war invasion while their people live in shelters.
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