ID :
53490
Thu, 04/02/2009 - 16:31
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/53490
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea likely to emulate Iran's successful rocket launch: experts
By Sam Kim
SEOUL, April 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will likely succeed in its impending rocket launch as it has probably addressed most of its technical glitches through cooperation with Iran, experts said Thursday.
Iran denies it has any relation with North Korea in missile development, but U.S.
officials and analysts say intelligence points to extensive cooperation.
Quoting a government source, Japanese media recently reported that a team of
Iranian rocket scientists is in North Korea ahead of the launch of what Pyongyang
calls a satellite between April 4-8.
Iran sent its own communications satellite, Omid, into orbit on Feb. 2, just
weeks before North Korea announced its launch plan. North Korea had failed in an
earlier test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in July 2006.
"After the successful launch of the Iranian space launch vehicle, it is believed
that the causes of the previous failure of (North Korea's) Taepodong-2 have been
removed," Kim Byung-yong, a researcher at the state-funded Korea Institute for
Defense Analyses, said in a report presented at a conference in Seoul.
Omid is a two-stage rocket loaded with liquid fuel, while the North Korean rocket
-- which in theory can easily be converted into a missile -- consists of three
units, with the top being powered by solid fuel, Kim said.
"The North Korean vehicle is larger and has a longer range, which means the
payload is likely to be heavier and the rocket can be stationed higher in orbit,"
Kim said.
Baek Seung-joo, a senior analyst with the same think tank, said North Korea and
Iran appear to have begun joint development of long-range missiles since the
early 2000s, noting their technological exchange has accelerated since then.
"North Korea and Iran have completely ignored customary delays that countries
maintain before sharing their rocket technology," Baek said by phone, citing his
report released Wednesday evening.
"It has come to a point where Iran is now re-exporting its technology to North
Korea, which originally helped lay the groundwork for Iran's missile
development," he said.
SEOUL, April 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will likely succeed in its impending rocket launch as it has probably addressed most of its technical glitches through cooperation with Iran, experts said Thursday.
Iran denies it has any relation with North Korea in missile development, but U.S.
officials and analysts say intelligence points to extensive cooperation.
Quoting a government source, Japanese media recently reported that a team of
Iranian rocket scientists is in North Korea ahead of the launch of what Pyongyang
calls a satellite between April 4-8.
Iran sent its own communications satellite, Omid, into orbit on Feb. 2, just
weeks before North Korea announced its launch plan. North Korea had failed in an
earlier test of an intercontinental ballistic missile in July 2006.
"After the successful launch of the Iranian space launch vehicle, it is believed
that the causes of the previous failure of (North Korea's) Taepodong-2 have been
removed," Kim Byung-yong, a researcher at the state-funded Korea Institute for
Defense Analyses, said in a report presented at a conference in Seoul.
Omid is a two-stage rocket loaded with liquid fuel, while the North Korean rocket
-- which in theory can easily be converted into a missile -- consists of three
units, with the top being powered by solid fuel, Kim said.
"The North Korean vehicle is larger and has a longer range, which means the
payload is likely to be heavier and the rocket can be stationed higher in orbit,"
Kim said.
Baek Seung-joo, a senior analyst with the same think tank, said North Korea and
Iran appear to have begun joint development of long-range missiles since the
early 2000s, noting their technological exchange has accelerated since then.
"North Korea and Iran have completely ignored customary delays that countries
maintain before sharing their rocket technology," Baek said by phone, citing his
report released Wednesday evening.
"It has come to a point where Iran is now re-exporting its technology to North
Korea, which originally helped lay the groundwork for Iran's missile
development," he said.
