N. Korea claims satellite in orbit despite reports of failed launch

SEOUL, April 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea claimed on Sunday that it put a communications satellite into orbit in a step toward becoming a powerful nation, ignoring foreign analysis that the launch failed.

The North's state media continued to promote its "successful satellite launch,"
while the South Korean government and the U.S. military confirmed no North
Korean satellite made it into orbit.
North Korea earlier said it launched the communications satellite
Kwangmyongsong-2 through a three-stage rocket from its east coast at 11:20 a.m.
and that the satellite entered orbit 9 minutes later.
"Our satellite rose to the sky. The space star world is now mine," a song aired
by the Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station said.
The same song was broadcast after North Korea launched its first satellite in
1998, which it claimed made it into orbit but international monitors concluded to
be a failed attempt.
The North's main news outlet, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), said earlier
that the satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 is running "on its routine orbit" and
"sending to the earth the melodies of immortal revolutionary paeans" to leader
Kim Jong-il and his father and late President Kim Il-sung.
The report also gave figures about the satellite's orbital inclination, distances
as well as its cycle.
But South Korea and the U.S. said all three stages fell into the waters,
including the payload that landed in the Pacific. The U.S. Northern Command
called the space vehicle "not a threat to North America or Hawaii."
North Korea claimed the rocket and the satellite were made with domestic
technology as part of its space development program. The launch is "powerfully
encouraging the Korean people" in their campaign to build a powerful nation, the
KCNA said.
North Korea has set 2012, the centennial of Kim Il-sung's birth, as an important
year by which it should become a "great prosperous and powerful nation" with
sufficient food and developed infrastructure.
Choson Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper based in Tokyo, said the launch will be a
major boost for North Korea's 2012 economic campaign, opening the doors for
capitalizing on its rocket technology .
"North Korea's biggest agenda at this time is economic reconstruction.
Large-scale rocket development is related to its citizens' livelihoods," the
paper that usually conveys Pyongyang's official position said. Technology exports
will yield "a series of economic benefits," it said.
There is no official data on the launch cost, but North Korea may have spent up
to US$500 million to send up the satellite, a state-run think tank in Seoul said,
basing its estimate on the North Korean leader's previous remarks on the launch.
He has told Seoul officials that the 1998 launch cost between $200 million and
$300 million, said the Institute for National Security Strategy, an arm of the
National Intelligence Service.
South Korea expects the North will fall short of more than one million tons of
food to feed its 24 million people this year. North Korea's frail economy
accounted for only 2.8 percent of South Korea's in terms of gross national income
in 2007, according to South Korea's central bank.
The failed launch will deal a serious blow to the North Korean leader, who sought
to pressure Washington into quickening bilateral negotiations, said Hong Ihk-pyo,
a North Korea analyst with the state-run Korea Institute for International
Economic Policy in Seoul. Kim may punish officials responsible through a major
shakeup, he said.
"Those who led the satellite project will be held accountable, and this could
lead to a large-scale reshuffle," Hong said.
Internal propaganda to cover up the failure would likely continue, with the
North's new parliament set to convene on Thursday. New lawmakers are expected to
reappoint Kim as chairman of the National Defense Commission, the highest
decision-making body that governs the country's 1.19-million military. His
five-year term coincides with the parliament's.
The failed launch reduced the urgency for the U.S. government in dealing with
North Korea, said Richard Bush, a senior fellow with the Washington-based private
Brookings Institute. The Kwangmyongsong-2 did not fly as far as U.S. territory,
suggesting the North's rocket technology is not a threat to the U.S.
"It will be less likely to engage North Korea bilaterally," Bush said.
North Korea and the U.S. have been in negotiations to end the North's nuclear
weapons program since 2003. The disarmament talks, also involving South Korea,
China, Japan and Russia, were stalled late last year due to the dispute over how
to verify the North's past nuclear activity.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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