N. Korea seeks to join global space race

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Friday the world's interest in "peaceful" development and research of space is expanding and that it will step up efforts to join the growing trend.

"Our republic has been exercising its rights fairly in the field of peaceful
expansion into and research of space and will advance more vigorously toward a
goal that we have already chosen and put forward," declared the Rodong Sinmun,
the North's most influential state-run newspaper.
Carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, the article did not
give specific details of the goal.
It said that space expansion, which used to be a monopoly of developed countries
in the West, is now a global trend.
Many developing countries such as China, India, Colombia and Angola have launched
or are accelerating research activities to send satellites or unmanned shuttles
into space, the North said.
North Korea fired a long-range missile, called the Taepodong-1, over Japan in
1998. Pyongyang claims the missile carried the North's first satellite, named
Kwangmyongsong, and that the satellite had entered into orbit five minutes after
the missile launch. U.S. observers say the satellite launch had quickly failed.
sshim@yna.co.kr
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