North Korea Announces Satellite Launch, Violates Agreement With U.S.
Comments (1)
A 2010 shot of Pyongyang from the International Space Station. (Wikimedia Commons)
The Washington Post reported the launch, which North Korea is calling scientific and celebratory, will happen sometime between April 12 and 16, marking the one hundredth anniversary of founder Kim Il Sung's birthday.
Wolrd powers like the U.S., Japan and South Korea have all objected to the launch of the Kwangmyongsong-3, a "polar-orbiting earth observation satellite," according to a statement from the nation's state-run news agency.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the move would be in "direct violation" of Pyongyang's "international commitments, as well as the promise to stop weapon testing in exchange for food for the country.
Nuland said the following in a statement: “Such a missile launch would pose a threat to regional security and would also be inconsistent with North Korea’s recent undertaking to refrain from long-range missile launches. We call on North Korea to adhere to its international obligations, including all relevant U.N. Security Council Resolutions. We are consulting closely with our international partners on next steps.”
From The Post:
Both U.S. and South Korean government officials have characterized the North Korean satellite program as a cover for long-range missile tests, because the technology for launching either is similar, and it is difficult for outsiders to distinguish one from the other. The key difference is a matter of payload: Satellites are designed for communication and observation; missiles are for destruction.
“What they’re trying to do is perfect their reentry heat shield for a ballistic missile,” said Victor Cha, a former White House director of Asian affairs who is now a senior adviser at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. In past years, North Korea has refined its ability to launch but has been flummoxed by the technology required for the survivability and accuracy of long-distance projectiles.
After a similar purported satellite launch in April 2009, the United Nations tightened sanctions against the North, adding a measure to ban Pyongyang from any future launches using “ballistic missile technology.”
“If North Korea does conduct the launch, it kills the food deal,” said Dan Pinkston, a Seoul-based security expert at the International Crisis Group. “For the Obama administration, it becomes politically impossible.”
That food deal was seen as an encouraging first step in developing a positive relationship with new leader Kim Jong Eun.
North Korea said in a statement Friday that the launch would come with "maximum transparency" and would contribute to the "building of a thriving nation."
But as the BBC reported, mere news of the launch threatens international relations.
From the BBC report:
Japan is particularly concerned as North Korea's April 2009 rocket was launched over the country.
The country's chief cabinet secretary, Osamu Fujimura, told a news conference on Friday that Japan had set up a crisis management taskforce to monitor the situation and was co-operating with the US and South Korea.
"We believe a launch would be a move to interfere with our effort toward a dialogue, and we strongly urge North Korea not to carry out a satellite launch," he said.
Analysts say the announcement is not necessarily a show of hostile strategizing. Rather, it could indicate "some confusion within the system," according to John Delury, an assistant professor at Yonsei University in Seoul.
The U.S. is still weighing its options for an appropriate response.
