North Korea space agency naming blunder

The 'NADA' emblem looks very similar to NASA's design.

North’s Korea’s big ambitions, symbolised by their new space agency symbol, may come crashing back down to earth – like their failed satellite attempts.  

 

North Korea has come up with a new logo for their space agency – and it looks suspiciously like the USA’s NASA design.

However, the secretive state has made one highly noticeable alteration – because they´ve named the agency NADA (meaning ‘nothing’ in Spanish).

According to the Korean Central News Agency, the logo was released to mark the first anniversary of North Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration.

The design consists of a blue globe, planetary rings and a constellation of stars, with these features being strikingly similar to the NASA emblem.

North Korea proudly unveiled the new design to ‘glorify’ its stature as a global – and ‘space power’ on the world stage.

However, leader Kim Jong Un’s pride may have been dented in the aftermath of the design going public because it has attracted an onslaught of criticism and mockery – especially over its unfortunate ‘NADA’ acronym.

Critics of the state feel that the name of the space agency is quite apt, as it sums up North Korea’s space race accomplishments to date.

After several failed attempts, North Korea managed to launch a satellite into space in December 2012, but this is thought to have malfunctioned while in orbit.

The satellite was described by a White House official as “a dishwasher wrapped in tinfoil”.

The move resulted in a huge wave of Twitter ridicule:

Alastair Gale ‏said: “North Korea has renamed its space agency NADA. Spanish speakers weren’t consulted.”

Jonathan Cheng ‏said: “N. Korea’s rebranded space agency has big ambitions, peaceful intentions and one really awful acronym: NADA.”

In a swipe at nuclear weapon programme reprimands the Korean Central News Agency said: “The DPRK has pushed ahead with space development projects to turn the country into a space power, fully exercising its right to peaceful development of the space on a legal basis”.

North Korea has denied that it will attempt the ‘weaponization of outer space’.

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