Today we assess what the satellite launch in North Korea says about its new leader. One year after inheriting power, Kim Jong Un has shown some national scientific prowess to a wary world, burnished his image with publicity photos and Facebook posts even while closing the border to China and keeping his own people locked in a cycle of repression and hunger. Can the son and grandson of dictators be anything but? We look at Kim Jong Un.

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What's behind North Korea's long range missile launch? - AP Bureau Chief

North Korea Announcement:

The TPRK has succeeded in its satellite launch. The second version of satellite Kwangmyongsong-3 successfully lifted off from the Sohae space centre, in Chelsong county, North Pyongyang province, by carrier rocket UNHA-3 on Wednesday.

The international community is far less enthusiastic about the launch than the North Korean announcer. It's the Hermit Kingdom's fourth attempt to send a rocket into space -- and apparently this time, it got it right.

The White House calls it a "provocative act". The UN says its a clear violation of Security council demands. Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, warns it's a serious security threat.

Still, there are reports of dancing in the streets of Pyongyang. Jean Lee is the Korea bureau chief for The Associated Press. We reached her in the North Korean capital.

What's behind North Korea's long range missile launch? - Institute for Defence Analyses

The U.S. has suggested this a test of the kind of technology that could eventually be used to strike targets in North America.

Kongdan Oh is a Research Staff Member at Institute for Defence Analyses and Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution. She's also the co-author of The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom. We reached her in Washington.

What's behind North Korea's long range missile launch? - Blaine Harden

Kim Jong-Un doesn't need a missile launch to be a big shot. Time Magazine already lists him as a contender for "person of the year". He may one day prove a great reformer, but for the vast majority of his subjects, fear and repression continue to reign.

For outsiders, it's difficult to know how far that fear and repression penetrates North Korean society. But Blaine Harden has had a glimpse into that void. He's a longtime foreign correspondent, formerly with the Washington Post, and author of Escape From Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West. Mr. Harden spoke with us earlier this year along with the subject of his book, Shin Dong-hyuk. Shin is believed to be the only man born and raised in a North Korean prison camp to escape. This morning we reached Blaine Harden in Seattle.

This segment was produced by The Current's Ellen Saenger and Jessica deMello.

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Checking-In: Listener Response