N Korean rocket launch step closer

North Korean space officials have moved all three stages of a long-range rocket into position for a controversial launch, vowing to push ahead with their plan in defiance of international warnings against violating a ban on missile activity.

Selected foreign news agencies were yesterday allowed a first-hand look at preparations under way at the coastal Sohae Satellite Station in north-western North Korea.

North Korea announced plans last month to launch an observation satellite using a three-stage rocket during mid-April celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung. The US, Japan, Britain and other nations have urged North Korea to cancel the launch, warning that firing the long-range rocket would violate UN resolutions and North Korea’s promise to refrain from engaging in nuclear and missile activity. North Korea maintains that the launch is a scientific achievement intended to improve the nation’s faltering economy by providing detailed surveys of the countryside.

“Our country has the right and also the obligation to develop satellites and launching vehicles,” Jang Myong Jin, general manager of the launch facility, said during a tour, citing the UN space treaty. “No matter what others say, we are doing this for peaceful purposes.”

Experts say the Unha-3 rocket, scheduled for lift-off between 12 and 16 April, could also test long-range missile technology.

North Korea has tested two atomic devices, but is not believed to have mastered the technology needed to mount a warhead on a long-range missile.

Yesterday, reporters were taken by train past desolate fields and sleepy farming hamlets to North Korea’s new launch pad in Tongchang-ri in North Phyongan province, about 35 miles south of the border town of Sinuiju along North Korea’s west coast.

All three stages of the 91-ton rocket were visibly in position at the towering launch pad, and fuelling will begin soon, Mr Jang said.

Engineers also gave reporters a look at the 100kg Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite due to be mounted on the rocket, as well as a tour of the command centre.

About two weeks before North Korea unveiled its rocket plan, the US announced an agreement with the North to provide it with much-needed food aid in exchange for a freeze on nuclear activity, including a moratorium on long-range missile tests. The deal has now been suspended.

Mr Jang denied the launch was a cover for a missile test, saying the relatively diminutive rocket and fixed Sohae station would be “useless” for firing a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile.

“During the recent senior-level North Korea-US talks, our side made clear there’s only a moratorium on long-range missile launches, not on satellite launches,” he said.

Japan and South Korea, meanwhile, said they were prepared to shoot down any parts of the rocket that threatened to fall in their territory – a move North Korea’s foreign ministry warned would be considered a declaration of war.

The launch is scheduled to take place three years after North Korea’s last announced attempt to send a satellite into space, a lift-off condemned by the UN Security Council. North Korea walked away from nuclear disarmament negotiations in protest, and conducted an atomic test weeks later.

It is meant to show that North Korea has become a powerful, prosperous nation, celebrate the centenary of founder Kim Il Sung’s birth, and usher in a new era under his grandson, Kim Jong Un, said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean studies at Seoul’s Dongguk University.

“North Korea needs to show some tangible achievements to its people to solidify Kim Jong Un’s leadership,” he said. “North Korea intends to provide its people with a sense of pride.”