I hope the Russian rocket technology has a warranty the North Koreans can cash in on after this latest launch failure:
North Korea said Tuesday that its latest attempt to launch a new rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure due to the midair explosion of the rocket during the first-stage flight this week.
The vice general director of the North’s National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA) said the rocket carrying the satellite, the Malligyong-1-1, exploded after it lifted off from the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on the country’s northwest coast on Monday, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The launch came just hours after South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang held a trilateral summit in Seoul and reaffirmed their commitment to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.
This is not surprising to people who have been following this issue, but stopping the foreign parts supply to North Korea is hopefully a major effort being taken by the US government:
Debris from a 2016 North Korean rocket launch
So far this year, North Korea has conducted 16 test launches of missiles, virtually each one personally approved by the country’s young dictator, Kim Jong-un. With every test, North Korea takes a step toward its ultimate goal: an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United states with a thermonuclear warhead.
This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent David Martin and producer Mary Walsh report just how close the North Koreans are to that goal — and how they get their hands on the parts to do it.
Martin and Walsh interviewed Hugh Griffiths, head of the team that monitors the North Korean missile program and their compliance with sanctions for the U.N. Security Council. During the interview, Griffiths showed the 60 Minutes team a series of stunning photos of rocket debris, which revealed the the inner workings of a North Korean missile.
“What makes this rocket fly was in those photos,” Walsh tells 60 Minutes Overtime in the video above. “And that’s what made them so valuable to the U.N. inspectors, but also to 60 Minutes.”
The recovery of North Korean rocket debris is highly unusual, says Griffiths. In February 2016, North Korea launched a satellite into orbit, and while the satellite wasn’t very serious, the rocket that launched it was. “I think most people around the world agree, the point of this test was not to put a satellite into orbit,” Martin says. “The point of this test was to try out technologies for an intercontinental ballistic missile.”
Before launch, North Korea filed a Notice to Airmen and Mariners, warning them that debris may fall from the sky in a designated area. The South Koreans, in turn, knew exactly where to go in an attempt to recover the debris for intelligence purposes.
To block the South Koreans from collecting their debris, the North Koreans rigged the rocket with explosives that were supposed to detonate after boosting the satellite into orbit, Griffiths says. The rocket was meant to self-destruct, rendering its parts unrecognizable. But that system failed, says Griffiths, leaving the South Koreans with a debris field to collect and analyze.
“This was a gold mine,” correspondent David Martin says. “You just get this in-depth, excruciatingly detailed understanding of how these missiles work.” [60 Minutes]
You can read more at the link, but considering the North Koreans may be planning to launch another ICBM disguised as a space launch it will be interesting to see if they put out a notice beforehand again? Considering the intelligence value the ROK received from the recovered debris from the last launch it will be interesting to see what the regime decides to do.
The Kim regime has made it official that next month they will begin another provocation cycle by conducting a space launch which by UN resolutions is banned:
North Korea said Monday it is ready to launch satellites aboard long-range rockets to mark a key national anniversary next month, a move expected to rekindle animosities with its rivals South Korea and the United States.
A National Aerospace Development Administration director said the world will “clearly see a series of satellites soaring into the sky at times and locations determined” by the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party.
In comments carried by Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency, he said that the North’s outer space development sector has been making “shining achievements” ahead of the 70th anniversary of the ruling party’s founding that falls on Oct. 10. He said North Korea is pushing forward on a final development phase for a new earth observation satellite for weather forecasts.
The launches, if made, are certain to trigger an international standoff, with Seoul, Washington and other neighboring countries viewing seeing past launches as disguised tests of the North’s long-range missile technology. [Stars & Stripes]
That is what the below report in the Hankyoreh is speculating could happen if North Korea launches a rocket in October:
The main variable in future diplomatic trends is the question of whether North Korea will launch a long-range rocket. There has been discussion of the possibility of North Korea testing a long-range rocket on the pretext of putting a satellite into orbit on Oct. 10, the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Korean Workers’ Party.
Indeed, a video was posted on Uriminzokkiri, a website that North Korea uses to send propaganda to South Korea, in which the anchor said, “South Korea’s opposition parties, press, and experts urged the government not to cast a chill on inter-Korean relations, which are starting to thaw at last, simply because North Korea launches a satellite.”Experts suspect that North Korea’s suggestive comments are intended to provide justification for the upcoming rocket launch. (………………)
This could also lead to renewed calls from the US and Japan to deploy THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) on the Korean Peninsula to defend against North Korean rockets. If South Korea is dragged into a discussion of THAAD, opposition from China could strain relations between the two countries. [Hankyoreh]
