# North Korean spy satellite failure **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 10, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867 "2023-07-10T18:01:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/1 "2023-07-10T18:01:54Z")
A North Korean [spy satellite crashed](https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-spy-satellite-ruling-party-c9f16baacd3a8bdb87d8393f481d0cb8) some time ago. Kim Jong Un has apparently executed some engineers with an anti aircraft gun so that the next guys will build one that works. It seems to be a status point to have working spy satellites. I thought most countries kept that sort of thing secret, calling it a “People’s Peaceful Weather Observation Satellite” or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/2 "2023-07-10T19:31:36Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > apparently executed some engineers with an anti aircraft gun Where did you see this? Your own citation says something completely different. > North Korea monitoring groups haven’t reported any purges or dismissals of scientists or others involved in the failed launch ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/3 "2023-07-10T19:35:55Z")
I was being facetious, remembering his killing some political opponents with an AA gun. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/4 "2023-07-10T19:38:07Z")
Ah, sorry, I’m afraid the joke went as well as a North Korean orbital launch. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/5 "2023-07-10T19:45:33Z")
I will tell another joke, and it will be the very best. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/6 "2023-07-10T19:52:06Z")
No need to fear, we don’t have anti-aircraft cannons here. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/7 "2023-07-10T20:05:15Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > No need to fear, we don’t have anti-aircraft cannons here. - How about naval guns? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/8 "2023-07-10T20:07:07Z")
I actually don’t know (of my own knowledge) what the mods keep in their armory, but I certainly don’t. Even a smallish 3" gun takes too much room for my already junk-choked garage. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/9 "2023-07-10T20:07:24Z")
Well, they have a navy. Perhaps a 16" gun is too quick for Un. He can watch longer with an AA gun. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/10 "2023-07-10T20:10:09Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I thought most countries kept that sort of thing secret, calling it a “People’s Peaceful Weather Observation Satellite” or something like that. My suspicion is that North Korea _wants_ the rest of the world to know that they have things like spy satellites, as it helps to burnish their image as an actual power in the world, and that they as a country, and Kim Jong Un, as a leader, are worthy of respect. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/11 "2023-07-10T20:13:47Z")
I agree, but it points out that Un is playing single dimension checkers or something equally…Un, for lack of a better term. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/12 "2023-07-10T21:37:16Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > > [@gnoitall](#): > > > > No need to fear, we don’t have anti-aircraft cannons here. - > > How about naval guns? I’m thinking if an Evil Overlord wanted to execute a failed Henchman in spectacular fashion, he (why are they always “he”?) would use his naval gun as more of a navel gun. As in stand right here in front of this waist-high tube and salute the Emperor, you who are about to die. BOOOM!!! ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/13 "2023-07-10T21:40:26Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’m thinking if an Evil Overlord wanted to execute a failed Henchman in spectacular fashion, he (why are they always “he”?) would use his naval gun as more of a navel gun. > > As in stand right here in front of this waist-high tube and salute the Emperor, you who are about to die. BOOOM!!! - I was thinking _out_ of a naval gun. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/14 "2023-07-10T21:51:03Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > stand right here in front of this waist-high tube Ah, a variation upon the classics. > **[Blowing from a gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowing_from_a_gun)** > > Blowing from a gun is a method of execution in which the victim is typically tied to the mouth of a cannon which is then fired, resulting in death. George Carter Stent described the process as follows: > The prisoner is generally tied to a gun with the upper part of the small of his back resting against the muzzle. When the gun is fired, his head is seen to go straight up into the air some forty or fifty feet; the arms fly off right and left, high up in the air, and fall at, perhaps, a hundred y... ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/15 "2023-07-10T22:07:54Z")
Which was more or less what Emperor Lil Kim was rumored to have done with that failed henchman a few years ago. IIRC the rumors were later found to be unsubstantiated, but nevertheless, bungling henchmen have a poor life expectancy in NK. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/16 "2023-07-10T23:15:05Z")
I particularly liked the report of bystanders being injured when grapeshot instead of a blank cartridge was used, and of soldiers being injuring by pieces of flesh and bone. Humans: what a species. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2023, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/17 "2023-07-10T23:55:49Z")
They would be Indian troops and not British, would they not? ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2023, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/18 "2023-07-11T00:02:09Z")
From the Wikipedia article: > Not only _sepoys_ were executed by being blown from a gun. In 1798, mutiny broke out among the British soldiers in the [1st Battalion of the Madras Foot Artillery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madras_Army#Artillery). One British soldier was condemned to be blown from a gun.[[38]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowing_from_a_gun#cite_note-38) This, however, seems to have been exceptional, and one historian says that the soldier Forster is the only European on record to have been blown from a gun by the British.[[39]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowing_from_a_gun#cite_note-39) So, not many. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2023, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/19 "2023-07-11T00:08:48Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > agree, but it points out that Un is playing single dimension checkers Point of order; Korean names put the family name first. “Kim” is his family name and “Jong-Un” is his personal name. Calling him “Un” is like referring to our current president as “Seph”. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2023, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867/20 "2023-07-11T00:11:05Z")
Eh, if he _really_ wants attention he should send up a few balloons… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/north-korean-spy-satellite-failure/986867.md?page=2)