Wind may have forced N Korea to delay rocket launch
Sunday, 5 April 2009
SEOUL, April 4 (AP): High winds may have forced North Korea to delay its rocket launch, despite the country's insistence Saturday that preparations were complete for the liftoff that many suspect is intended to test the country's long-range missile capabilities.
Regional powers deployed warships and trained their satellites on the communist country to monitor what they suspect will be a test for a missile capable of reaching Alaska.
Preparations for sending "an experimental communications satellite" into space were complete, North Korea's state-run media said in a dispatch Saturday morning, adding, "The satellite will be launched soon."
However, the day's stated 11 am to 4 pm timeframe passed without any sign of a launch. North Korea had announced last month the launch would take place sometime between April 4 and 8 during those hours.
Winds reported as "relatively strong" around the northeastern North Korean launch pad in Musudan-ri may have kept the North from launching the rocket Saturday, analyst Paik Hak-soon of the private Sejong Institute think tank said.
"North Korea cannot afford a technical failure," he said. "North Korea wouldn't fire the rocket if there's even a minor concern about the weather."
North Korea has announced its intention to send a satellite into space sometime between Saturday and Wednesday during daytime hours.
But Washington, Seoul and Tokyo suspect North Korea's real motive is to test its long-range missile technology - a worrying development because North Korea has acknowledged it has nuclear weapons and has repeatedly broken promises to shelve its nuclear programme or halt rocket tests.
In a meeting Friday, Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Myung-bak, that the "rocket launch would negatively affect peace and stability in Northeast Asia and there should be a discussion among related countries" after it takes place, Lee's office said.
Regional powers deployed warships and trained their satellites on the communist country to monitor what they suspect will be a test for a missile capable of reaching Alaska.
Preparations for sending "an experimental communications satellite" into space were complete, North Korea's state-run media said in a dispatch Saturday morning, adding, "The satellite will be launched soon."
However, the day's stated 11 am to 4 pm timeframe passed without any sign of a launch. North Korea had announced last month the launch would take place sometime between April 4 and 8 during those hours.
Winds reported as "relatively strong" around the northeastern North Korean launch pad in Musudan-ri may have kept the North from launching the rocket Saturday, analyst Paik Hak-soon of the private Sejong Institute think tank said.
"North Korea cannot afford a technical failure," he said. "North Korea wouldn't fire the rocket if there's even a minor concern about the weather."
North Korea has announced its intention to send a satellite into space sometime between Saturday and Wednesday during daytime hours.
But Washington, Seoul and Tokyo suspect North Korea's real motive is to test its long-range missile technology - a worrying development because North Korea has acknowledged it has nuclear weapons and has repeatedly broken promises to shelve its nuclear programme or halt rocket tests.
In a meeting Friday, Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Myung-bak, that the "rocket launch would negatively affect peace and stability in Northeast Asia and there should be a discussion among related countries" after it takes place, Lee's office said.