“South Korean media are reporting the launch,” a Japanese reporter said excitedly. The screens showed nothing. They never did.

Three officials who’d filed in expecting to make an announcement of a successful launch shifted uneasily in their seats and refused to comment, despite a barrage of questions from a crowd of camera crews. They kept that up for five hours…

As the hundreds of thousands of people left the rally I asked people at random what they thought about the rocket failure. A group of women told me they didn’t know much about it. Our government minder prompted them from behind the camera. They paused, then thought again.

“We’re not disappointed” they then said.