There are signs that North Korea`s long-range rocket launch on Sunday was less than successful. Korean, U.S. and Japanese surveyors did not spot the new "communications satellite" that Pyongyang claimed to be orbiting the earth or catch any signal from such an object in space in the 24 hours after the rocket was launched.
But it does not mean that Pyongyang`s years of expensive efforts to develop mighty rockets in parallel with its nuclear weapons program totally failed. Kim Jong-il has at least demonstrated his country`s capability to fire a rocket over the Japanese archipelago - terrifying its government and people - to a location more than 2,000 kilometers from Japan, a significant improvement from its 1998 and 2006 undertakings.
In August 1998, North Korea launched a Taepodong-1 rocket and claimed that a Kwangmyongsong-1 satellite was put into earth orbit. The North`s first communications satellite was not identified by any space watching agency outside North Korea. In July 2006, North Korea fired seven missiles, but the biggest, the Taepodong-2, fizzled out 42 seconds after liftoff.
Pyongyang`s official media triumphantly told the people that Kwangmyongsong-2 was transmitting revolutionary songs praising Gen. Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il. The U.S. military, however, reported that "no object entered orbit." Military officials said that the first stage of the rocket fell into the waters between Korea and Japan, while the two other stages, and its payload, landed in the Pacific Ocean.
The televised sight of the blast-off of the three-stage rocket must have been magnificent enough to enthrall the North Korean people, who no doubt believe they had been rewarded for their severe hunger by the pride of being one of the nine countries in the world to have launched satellites with their own rockets. Pitiably, they are facing harsh international sanctions for the launch, which was condemned by world nations.
Kim Jong-il and the North Korean military were obviously too hasty in test-firing the Taepodong rocket. We can surmise that the North`s leader, with his failing health, wanted to gain more bargaining power in the long-stalled six-party denuclearization talks. To shirk international pressure, the North Koreans guised a missile as a space launch vehicle. The United States and other concerned governments bought into the convenient camouflage because they actually had few means to stop the launch.
That the North`s test-firing was anything but perfect does not lighten the tasks of Korea, the United States and Japan - and China and Russia for that matter - to cope jointly with Pyongyang`s new approach in the six-party process. The North will now carry a misguided belief that it has gained greater leverage to wring concessions from other parties. Calls from Beijing and Moscow on the North to stop the rocket launch were perfunctory and rather emboldened Pyongyang. The two present and former benefactors of Pyongyang should clearly see where their interests are regarding proliferation in the region.
Seoul, for its part, should make a clear decision concerning the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative. South Korea needs to make greater contributions beyond taking part in limited scope of PSI exercises to demonstrate its resolve not to allow the spread of weapons of mass destruction and related technology. The military alliance with the United States should be upgraded with stronger missile capabilities in this area that faces a dangerous regime looking to develop nuclear warheads and a means of delivery to distant targets.
South Korea`s own development of space technology should be further spurred. The multibillion dollar Oenarodo Space Center has again delayed the launch schedule for its KSLV-1 space launch vehicle from the South Coast facility to July this year. South Korea lags too far behind Japan, China, and now even North Korea.
[출처 : 코리아헤럴드]
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