By Christian Oliver in Seoul Published: February 24 2009 05:29 | Last updated: February 24 2009 05:29 North Korea on Tuesday said it was planning to fire a satellite into space, heightening regional fears that an inflammatory long-range missile test could be imminent. When North Korea blasted a missile over Japan in 1998, it also described that as a satellite launch. US and South Korean intelligence sources reckon the communist state is preparing to test-fire the Taepodong-2, a missile that could hit Alaska, using its space programme as a smokescreen for upgrading ballistic weapons. “If this satellite is successfully launched, our country’s space technology will have taken another important stride towards making our nation an economic powerhouse,” North Korea’s Space Technology Committee told state media. North Korea first detonated a nuclear device in 2006 but military analysts think it still lacks the know-how to fit an atomic warhead on a missile. Both the US and South Korea insist Pyongyang will contravene UN Security Council resolution 1718 if it launches any kind of rocket. South Korea has been buying Patriot missiles since last year to shoot down any threat from the North. North Korea has struck an unusually bellicose stance with its rich, southern neighbour over recent weeks. It has accused Seoul of bringing the two nations to the brink of war, has said it is tearing up bilateral non-aggression pacts and has refused to recognise a disputed maritime border. Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s dictator, has been infuriated by South Korea’s conservative president, who has refused to court him in the manner of previous leftist administrations and made aid contingent on progress in nuclear negotiations. Responding to these heightened regional tensions, Japan’s prime minister, Taro Aso, is due to discuss North Korea with Barack Obama, the US president. South Korea’s foreign minister has flown to Beijing for talks. North Korea last attempted to fire its Taepodong-2 missile in 2006 but the weapon disintegrated and fell harmlessly into the sea seconds after blast-off. A successful launch on this attempt would help advertise the weapon to potential buyers in Iran, Syria and Libya, traditional sources of much-needed hard currency. Impoverished North Korea is already under stringent international sanctions and depends on food aid for survival. Imposing further sanctions would be complicated by severe malnourishment in a country where famine killed about 1m people in the 1990s. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, last week told Pyongyang to end its brinkmanship, stop insulting South Korea and rejoin six-party talks on dismantling its nuclear weapons. Undaunted, North Korea this weekend lambasted South Korea’s president, Lee Myung-bak, as a “traitor”N Korea says ‘satellite’ launch imminent
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
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