N. Korea seeks to join Asia's space race

By Shim Sun-ah

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Friday it will step up its "peaceful" expansion into space in a bid to join in on a regional trend.

"Our republic has been exercising its rights fairly in the field of peaceful
research and expansion of space and will advance more vigorously toward a goal
that we have already chosen and put forward," said Rodong Sinmun, the most
influential state-run newspaper in the North.
It did not elaborate on the North's plan.
Carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, the article said the
plan reflects recent international attention on space programs.
Satellite and unmanned spaceship launches by developing countries such as China
and India have been on the rise lately, it noted.
"Space expansion used to be a monopoly of the developed countries in the past.
But these days, the international interest in space as a common source of wealth
for mankind is rising day after day, and many countries are putting great forces
into programs to peacefully expand and use space," it said.
North Korea fired a long-range Taepodong-1 missile, which it claims was its first
launch of a satellite named Kwangmyongsong, that flew over Japan in 1998. The
North's state media said the satellite rocket stayed in the air for about 5
minutes after launch, but U.S. observers believe it failed very quickly.