satellite advances "North Korea"

North Korea touts satellite advances, raising prospect of rocket launch

"final phase" of developing a new satellite,

North Korea says it is in the "final phase" of developing a new satellite, raising the prospect of a
long-range rocket launch that would provoke international condemnation.

The world should expect to see a series of North Korean satellites "soaring into the sky," the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Monday, citing a senior aerospace official.

Although nuclear-armed North Korea insists its satellite launches are for peaceful purposes, they are widely viewed as tests of ballistic missile technology that aid its weapons program.

"There are multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions that require North Korea to suspend all activities related to their ballistic missile program and re-establish a moratorium on missile launches, stop conducting any launches using ballistic missile technology, and abandon its ballistic missile program in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in response to a question about the North Korean announcement.

"Any satellite launch using ballistic missile technology would be a clear violation of those resolutions," Kirby said at a regular news briefing Monday in Washington.

Timing of any launch unclear

The director of North Korea's National Aerospace Development Administration, the official cited in the state media report, didn't specify when any launches might take place.
North Korea last conducted a long-range rocket launch in December 2012, prompting the U.N. Security Council to expand sanctions on Kim Jong Un's regime.

Launch station upgraded

Experts say that since the 2012 launch, Kim's regime has upgraded its Sohae Satellite Launching Station.

The North Korean aerospace official said Monday that "successful progress made in reconstructing and expanding satellite launching grounds for higher-level satellite liftoff has laid a firm foundation for dynamically pushing ahead with the nation's development of space science."

South Korea's Defense Ministry said it was closely watching "the latest report regarding North Korea's plan to launch a rocket" but declined to provide further comment on the matter.




























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http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/14/asia/north-korea-satellite-launch/index.html