North Korea fires 7th missile

In case anyone hasn’t heard already, North Korea test-fired six missiles yesterday—one long-range and five short-range. Now they have fired off another one, and CNN is reporting it was medium-range, according to Japanese officials.

The long-range missile is the one reported to have the capability to reach the US, but it failed after 40 seconds and landed in the Sea of Japan.

The U.N. Security Council is planning to meet Wednesday morning to discuss North Korea's actions.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said he was "urgently consulting" with other members of the 15-nation council.

The United States, Japan, South Korea and Australia were quick to condemn the tests. North Korea's close ally China, which last week urged North Korea to refrain from missile tests, urged all parties to remain calm.

And in typical fashion, Bush met with U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Rumsfeld, and Condi Rice as the tests were going on, then “went ahead with plans to watch Independence Day fireworks and hold a gathering at the White House for his 60th birthday.”

Meanwhile, Hadley “described the missile launches as ‘provocative behavior,’ but said they posted no immediate threat to the United States.” In case anyone’s keeping score, that “provocative behavior” which only poses no immediate threat to the US because the long-range missile failed but not because the person launching it doesn’t want to pose a threat to the US, is nearly precisely the stated reason we went to war in Iraq, where said raison d'être was not actually true.