This photo, released by the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station on Feb. 7, 2016, shows North Korea’s “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite being fired from the Dongchang-ri launch site in Cholsan, North Pyongan Province. The North launched the rocket in a move widely viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions. (Yonhap)
North Korea said Monday it will launch more satellites as any sovereign country has the right to develop a space program amid speculation that it is preparing more provocative acts.
North Korea will place into space more satellites, including a stationary one, in accordance with its five-year space development program as it seeks to improve its economy and people’s livelihood, according to the Rodong Sinmun, the main newspaper.
“Some countries have manipulated U.N. sanctions resolutions against us and hindered the sovereign country’s space development. It is not a tolerable act,” the newspaper said. “It is a global trend that a country seeks the economic growth with the space program.” [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but the last time North Korea did a space launch they announced it and invited foreign journalists to the launch site. It will be interesting to see if they try and take this same approach to fire their next rocket.
It looks like the North Koreans are preparing for their next provocation:
North Korea said Thursday it will continue to launch satellites into space despite South Korea’s condemnation, which analysts said points toward Pyongyang testing a long-range rocket soon.
North Korean satellites will continue going up even as South Korea condemns Pyongyang’s move, an unidentified spokesman at North Korea’s bureau on space development was quoted as saying by the country’s media.
“We will march toward the goal of conquering space by firing off more satellites in accordance with our five-year space development program,” the spokesman said.
The report came amid growing speculation that North Korea is likely to launch a long-range rocket in the not-too-distant future after its last launch in February.
Pyongyang has claimed it has the right to develop its space program by putting satellites into orbit, but Seoul and Washington have viewed Pyongyang’s move as a disguised test for its ballistic missile technology. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I wonder if they will time it to coincide with the US Presidential election?
I guess we will see if there will be an upcoming rocket test by the North Koreans:
Increased activity has been detected at North Korea’s rocket launch site with a concerted effort under way to conceal what is taking place, a U.S. website monitoring the North said, amid concerns the regime could undertake renewed provocations to mark a key anniversary this week.
Commercial satellite imagery taken on Oct. 1 of Sohae Satellite Launching Station in North Pyongan Province showed increased movement around the engine test facility, 38 North said Saturday.
It said photos showed crates next to the gantry tower on the launch pad and several large vehicles in front of the newly built fuel-oxidizer bunker. It said covers placed over many sites made it impossible to observe if a space launch vehicle or related components are located at the gantry tower or have been moved into the assembly structures.
The website then said images showed shelters erected next to the rocket test stand, indicating some sort of work may be underway.
“It may indicate preparations for a new engine test or continued work at the test stand in the aftermath of the September 20 engine test,” it said. [Yonhap]
Seen here is wreckage retrieved by the South Korean Navy of a turbo pump from a long-range rocket that North Korea launched over South Korean territorial waters on Feb. 7, 2016. South Korea’s defense ministry made it public on April 27, 2016, saying the launch was for a ballistic missile test. The North claimed at that time it launched not a missile, but a satellite. The ministry provided this photo. (Yonhap)
The North Koreans have provided the US with some pre-Super Bowl fireworks:
North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday carrying what it has called a satellite, but its neighbors and Washington denounced the launch as a missile test, conducted in defiance of U.N. sanctions and just weeks after a nuclear bomb test.
The U.S. Strategic Command said it had detected a missile entering space and South Korea’s military said the rocket had put an object into orbit, quashing earlier media reports indicating the rocket might have failed in flight.
“Everything we have seen is consistent with a successful repeat of the 2012 (launch),” said U.S. missile technology expert John Schilling, referring to a previous launch of what the North said was a communications satellite.
“But it’s still too early to tell for sure,” said Schilling, who is involved in the “38 North” monitoring project at Johns Hopkins University.
The rocket was launched at around 9:30am Seoul time (7.30 p.m. ET/0030 GMT) in a southward trajectory. Japan’s Fuji Television Network showed a streak of light heading into the sky, taken from a camera at China’s border with North Korea. [Reuters]
You can read more at the link, but I thought the North Koreans may try and launch this right after the Super Bowl or during halftime in an attempt to garner additional media attention in the US. The timing today means they will dominate the media cycle until the Super Bowl starts and then this launch will be largely forgotten by most Americans.
Anyway something dangerous about the timing was that the North Koreans fired before their announced launch window by giving a last minute notification to the International Maritime Organization to get aircraft out of the area:
Japanese and South Korean airlines altered flight paths to avoid possible falling rocket parts. Based on coordinates provided by North Korea to the IMO, the first stage and fairing of the rocket will drop off in waters between South Korea and China. Its second stage is expected to fall into waters off the Philippines’ northern coast. [CNN]
The North Koreans apparently launched the rocket early because of favorable weather conditions.
But on Friday, North Korea informed United Nations agencies including the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that it will move up its expected launch window to between Feb. 7 and Feb. 10.
Seoul officials saw the move to reflect the good weather during that time frame. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
What is more important is how well did the rocket perform? The ROK government is confirming that an object was put into orbit:
South Korea’s Defense Ministry has confirmed that the payload on North Korea’s long-range missile entered into orbit:
A ministry official said, however, that more analysis is needed to confirm if the alleged satellite is normally operating.
The North Korean long-range missile launch was first detected at 9:31 a.m. by the South Korean Air Force’s Peace Eye aircraft and identified by the Navy’s Aegis destroyer as a missile.
The defense ministry said that the missile was successful in its first-stage separation at around 9:32 a.m., with the first stage exploding in midair into about 270 pieces in the process.
It said the missile appears to have disappeared from the South Korean military’s surveillance radar right after the missile shed its fairing southwest of Jeju Island at 9:36 a.m. [KBS Global]
What will next be interesting to see is if the object is tumbling or not within orbit which reportedly their 2012 satellite was doing. This will be a big achievement for the North Koreans if they actually do have a functioning satellite in orbit.
World leaders for their part are giving their usual condemnations of the launch which violated UN sanctions once again to include ROK President Park Geun-hye:
As North Korea pushed ahead with a long-range rocket launch in defiance of international warnings, the South Korean president convened a meeting of her National Security Council. At the meeting, President Park Geun-hye called for joint action among the international community to deal with North Korea.
Our Kim Bum-soo reports.
Report: President Park Geun-hye has strongly condemned North Korea’s long-range missile launch, calling it a direct challenge to the international community.
Presiding over the National Security Council(NSC) meeting at the presidential office on Sunday, Park stressed that the global community must come up with strong sanction measures to penalize the North.
[Sound bite: President Park Geun-hye (Korean)]
“This long-range-missile launch is a direct challenge to the international community as it came whilst the UN Security Council is discussing sanctions against North Korea for its nuclear test… The move by the North is a direct violation of the UNSC resolutions that ban ballistic missile launches, and the Security Council must swiftly produce strong measures under the perception that Pyongyang’s missiles and nuclear weapons pose a real threat to the international community.”
Calling the launch an unacceptable provocation, the South Korean president stressed that the missile launch is aimed at advancing the nuclear delivery system alongside nuclear weapons development.
She said that the government should take all necessary measures to strengthen the response capabilities under the South Korea-U.S. alliance. [KBS Global]
I guess we will see what happens, but I doubt any serious consequences will happen to the North Koreans because the Chinese will continue to block or circumvent any real sanctions against the regime.
As more details about the launch become available I will post them here on the ROK Drop.
Even if the North Koreans successfully put a satellite into orbit if they do launch their rocket, it still does not validate their ICBM technology since they haven’t tested a reentry vehicle:
It is believed that North Korea may launch a rocket with a range of 13,000 kilometers during its purported satellite launch scheduled for later this month, according to analysts and officials, Wednesday.
It will likely be a three-stage rocket capable of carrying a satellite weighing up to one ton. If the test succeeds, North Korea could load a nuclear warhead onto the rocket that could theoretically hit a city on the U.S. mainland.
It remains to be seen whether the rocket can withstand heat of up to 7,000 degrees Celsius caused if it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere after making it into outer space.
The re-entry phase of a rocket to the Earth’s atmosphere is essential as part of the inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) technologies that Pyongyang has pursued.
It is also questionable whether North Korea’s ICBM can hit a targeted area, most likely one on the U.S. mainland, even after it successfully re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere. [Korea Times]
It looks like the Chinese are attempting to stop the expected North Korean rocket launch by sending an envoy to North Korea which was likely prompted by reports that the ROK was considering deploying the THAAD missile defense system to Korea:
China’s top nuclear envoy made a surprise visit to North Korea on Tuesday, a news report said, amid rising tensions over the North’s fourth nuclear test last month.
Wu Dawei, China’s top delegate to the long-stalled six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear program, flew into Pyongyang in the afternoon, Japan’s Kyodo News agency reported.
China is currently under international pressure to exert its leverage on North Korea to make sure Pyongyang ends its nuclear program.
Wu is expected to meet with North Korean officials over the Jan. 6 nuclear test, which Pyongyang claims was a successful detonation of a hydrogen bomb.
The test has raised security tensions in the region to a new high, with the U.N. Security Council pushing to adopt another sanctions resolution against Pyongyang.
South Korea appears to be inching closer to introducing an advanced U.S. missile defense system to counter the threats posed by North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs. [Yonhap]
