North Korea hails dead leader after rocket fiasco

North Korea unveils new statue.

NORTH KOREA. Hours after North Korea’s criticized launch of a long distance rocket, that failed shortly after takeoff, a new mega-statue of the country’s former leader Kim Jong-il was unveiled.

Korean scientists are investigatin what went wrong with the rocket, North Korean state media reported on Friday. The fiasco could undermine the position for the country’s newly elected leader Kim Jong Un, who took control after Kim Jong-il’s death in December.

The world is now trying to figure out what the country’s next move will be. The failed rocket could accelerate North Korea’s plans to conduct another nuclear test, one expert believes.

“Kim Jong Un has lost an enormous amount of face,” said Brian Myers, a professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea, to the Washington Post. “This makes an underground nuclear test virtually a certainty.”

→ Watch the event of the statue here: