Eight months ago, North Korea conducted another in a series of failed missile launches. That familiar flop provided welcome comic relief from the ominous endurance of a Stalinist dynasty that’s been threatening its neighbors and starving its own people for more than half a century.

But last week, North Korea’s successful launch of a long-range rocket was no laughing matter.

North Korean officials insist the purpose of the launch was peaceful — to put a satellite in orbit. Yet missile experts correctly point out that the technology for that task matches the technology for launching longrange armed missiles.

Clearly, the United States must keep trying to form a more united front against this ascending menace.

— The Post and Courier of Charleston (S.C.)