North Korea says satellite set to be installed on rocket
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| The Unha-3 (Milky Way 3) rocket is pictured sitting on a launch pad at the West Sea Satellite Launch Site, during a guided media tour by North Korean authorities in the northwest of Pyongyang, April 8. — Reuters Photo |
North Korea is expected to complete the assembly of its satellite by today/ Tuesday. Ryu Kum-Chol, deputy director of the space development department at the Korean Committee for Space Technology, said that debris from the launch, which will be between the 12th and the 16th of this month posed no danger to other countries in the region. It marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea’s founding leader. Reporters have been invited to take a special train to visit the Sohae Satellite Launch pad in the northwest of North Korea.
In another development, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta agreed today/ on Tuesday to work closer to cooperation against North Korea's planned rocket launch, calling the North's plan a grave provocation. South Korea, the U.S. and others have condemned the launch as a cover for testing an improved ballistic missile.
South Korea and Japan have vowed to shoot the rocket down if it veers off course. Also on Monday, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the U.N. Security Council will likely be convened if North Korea launches the rocket as planned. Rice said that the North's rocket launch would be a "blatant violation" of its obligations under past U.N. Security Council resolutions.