O N THE MORNING of May 31st the citizens of Seoul, South Korea’s capital, had a rude awakening. Just after half past six the sound of sirens filled the air. Phones buzzed on nightstands, urging residents to seek shelter. Confusion ensued: Seoulites did not know what the alerts meant or how they were meant to act. The city government had triggered them in response to North Korea’s attempt to launch a satellite. It soon emerged that that attempt had failed; the warning was retracted 22 minutes after it had gone out. Oh Se-hoon, Seoul’s mayor, later said that it had been an “overreaction”. It certainly seemed ill-judged—North Korea had taken the rare step of announcing that it would launch a satellite between May 31st and June 11th and the projectile’s flight path was miles from the city. Although the launch posed little danger, North Korea’s satellite programme does present an insidious risk to the South. Why?
在5月31日上午，韩国首都首尔市民的公民觉醒了。六点半后，警笛声弥漫在空中。电话嗡嗡作响，床头柜上，敦促居民寻求庇护。随之而来的混乱：首尔不知道警报的含义或它们的意义。市政府触发了他们，以回应朝鲜发射卫星的尝试。很快就出现了这种尝试失败的。警告在撤出22分钟后撤回。哦，首尔市长的Se-Hoon后来说，这是一种“过度反应”。当然，判断力毫无疑问 - 北韩国采取了罕见的步骤，宣布它将在5月31日至6月11日之间发射一颗卫星，而弹丸的飞行道路距离城市几英里。尽管该发射构成了很少的危险，但朝鲜的卫星计划确实对南方呈现了阴险的风险。为什么？
