NK: Satellite in Orbit After Successful Launch

North Korea confirmed its rocket launch on Sunday, saying that the "communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2" has successfully entered into orbit.

"Our scientists and technicians have succeeded in putting communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 in orbit via carrier rocket Unha-2 in line with our national space development project," the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The three-stage rocket Unha-2 blasted off from a launch pad on the country's northeast coast at 11:20 a.m. and put the satellite safely into orbit 2 seconds past 11:29 a.m., the report claimed.

The Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite is now following an oval orbit, 490 km and 1,426 km at its closest and farthest points respectively from the earth, it said, adding a full orbit of the globe takes 104 minutes and 12 seconds.

"The satellite is normally operating on its orbit," the KCNA report said.

"The carrier rocket and the satellite developed by our own wisdom and technology are the fruit of our struggle to enhance our nation's space science technology to a higher level," it said.

However, in a response to the announcement of North Korea that the communications satellite was successfully put into the orbit, South Korean officials said that the orbiting has not been confirmed.

"So far, it is now confirmed whether it is a satellite or not," said an official who refused to be identified.

"Judging from the track the rocket made when North Korea fired, it was confirmed as the rocket to the space. But whether a satellite is actually loaded or not has not been confirmed," he said.

North Korea also announced that the rocket was successfully orbited when a long-range rocket was fired on Aug. 31, 1998, but there was no evidence that it successfully entered the orbit, he added.

[출처 : 코리아타임스]