North Korea 'plans rocket launch'
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
SEOUL, Feb 24 (Agencies): North Korea announced Tuesday it was preparing to launch a satellite from its northeastern coast, denying recent intelligence suggesting it was ready to test a long-range missile.
"Full-scale preparations are underway at a satellite launch site,'" a North Korean space committee spokesman said through the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite would launch on the Eunha-2 rocket, he said.
"If the satellite is successfully launched, our country's space technology will take a great step forward into becoming a strong, economic country," the spokesman said, adding that the North Korea is following its own "peaceful use policy" in developing such technology.
Earlier this month a senior US official told CNN that a US spy satellite had snapped an image of preparations at a North Korean site previously used to launch Taepodong-2 missiles. The photograph shows North Korean workers assembling telemetry equipment -- involving sophisticated electronics used to monitor missile launches, the official said, adding there was no direct evidence that a missile was being moved to the launch pad.
North Korea will go ahead with "space development," according to its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) last week, saying the program was "the independent right of the (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and the requirement of the developing reality."
Tension between Pyongyang and its neighbour South Korea has increased in recent weeks, with North Korea announcing it would scrap peace agreements with the South, warning of a war on the Korean peninsula and threatening to test a missile capable of hitting the western United States.
US and South Korean officials have said that North Korea appears to be preparing to test-fire its long-range missile, the Taepodong-2. Pyongyang tested one of the missiles in 2006, but it failed 40 seconds after launch. The missile is thought to have an intended range of about 4,200 miles (6,700 kilometres), which -- if true -- could give it the capability of striking Alaska or Hawaii.
North Korea has been involved in what is known as the six-party talks with the United States, Japan, Russia, South Korea and China -- an effort to end the nation's nuclear programme.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who returned from Asia Sunday after her first overseas trip in the post, recently called North Korea's nuclear programme "the most acute challenge to stability in northeast Asia."
However, she told newsmen, any saber-rattling by North Korea toward South Korea should be taken with a grain of salt, since "South Korea basically keeps the North Korean economy going with all of the subsidies of food and fuel and medical supplies."
Clinton believes North Korea consciously deploys two different stances -- at times being bellicose toward its neighbors and at other times behaving rationally and sticking with commitments -- as part of a calculated effort for diplomatic maneuvering.
"Full-scale preparations are underway at a satellite launch site,'" a North Korean space committee spokesman said through the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite would launch on the Eunha-2 rocket, he said.
"If the satellite is successfully launched, our country's space technology will take a great step forward into becoming a strong, economic country," the spokesman said, adding that the North Korea is following its own "peaceful use policy" in developing such technology.
Earlier this month a senior US official told CNN that a US spy satellite had snapped an image of preparations at a North Korean site previously used to launch Taepodong-2 missiles. The photograph shows North Korean workers assembling telemetry equipment -- involving sophisticated electronics used to monitor missile launches, the official said, adding there was no direct evidence that a missile was being moved to the launch pad.
North Korea will go ahead with "space development," according to its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) last week, saying the program was "the independent right of the (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and the requirement of the developing reality."
Tension between Pyongyang and its neighbour South Korea has increased in recent weeks, with North Korea announcing it would scrap peace agreements with the South, warning of a war on the Korean peninsula and threatening to test a missile capable of hitting the western United States.
US and South Korean officials have said that North Korea appears to be preparing to test-fire its long-range missile, the Taepodong-2. Pyongyang tested one of the missiles in 2006, but it failed 40 seconds after launch. The missile is thought to have an intended range of about 4,200 miles (6,700 kilometres), which -- if true -- could give it the capability of striking Alaska or Hawaii.
North Korea has been involved in what is known as the six-party talks with the United States, Japan, Russia, South Korea and China -- an effort to end the nation's nuclear programme.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who returned from Asia Sunday after her first overseas trip in the post, recently called North Korea's nuclear programme "the most acute challenge to stability in northeast Asia."
However, she told newsmen, any saber-rattling by North Korea toward South Korea should be taken with a grain of salt, since "South Korea basically keeps the North Korean economy going with all of the subsidies of food and fuel and medical supplies."
Clinton believes North Korea consciously deploys two different stances -- at times being bellicose toward its neighbors and at other times behaving rationally and sticking with commitments -- as part of a calculated effort for diplomatic maneuvering.