The North Korean launch of an object – whether missile or satellite – in early April, 2009 was promptly denounced by the United Nations Security Council (see Gavan McCormack, “Security Council Condemnation of North Korean ”UFO“ Deepens Korean Crisis.”

Since then, the diplomatic atmosphere has steadily worsened. On 29 April, a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry issued a statement demanding that “the UNSC should promptly make an apology for having infringed the sovereignty of the DPRK and withdraw all its unreasonable and discriminative ‘resolutions’ and decisions adopted against the DPRK.” Otherwise, the DPRK would take “additional self-defensive measures … including nuclear tests and test-firings of intercontinental ballistic missiles,” and would build a light water reactor to ensure self-production of nuclear fuel.

The rhetoric of North Korea's denunciation of South Korea has also escalated. According to Rodong sinmun on 4 May, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's statement of intention to join the Proliferation Security Initiative was “a public declaration of military confrontation against us and of war provocation to invade the North … basic common sense dictates that it will lead to military clashes between the two sides and escalate to a full-blown war.”