This photo, released by the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station on Feb. 7, 2016, shows North Korea’s “Kwangmyongsong-4” satellite being fired from the Dongchang-ri launch site in Cholsan, North Pyongan Province. The North launched the rocket in a move widely viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions. (Yonhap)
North Korea said Monday it will launch more satellites as any sovereign country has the right to develop a space program amid speculation that it is preparing more provocative acts.
North Korea will place into space more satellites, including a stationary one, in accordance with its five-year space development program as it seeks to improve its economy and people’s livelihood, according to the Rodong Sinmun, the main newspaper.
“Some countries have manipulated U.N. sanctions resolutions against us and hindered the sovereign country’s space development. It is not a tolerable act,” the newspaper said. “It is a global trend that a country seeks the economic growth with the space program.” [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but the last time North Korea did a space launch they announced it and invited foreign journalists to the launch site. It will be interesting to see if they try and take this same approach to fire their next rocket.
One wonders if any of the nork’s important folks were among the possibly 200 killed? https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4806082/north-korea-nuclear-base-collapses-killing-200-radioactive-leak-fears-latest-updates/