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North Korea Launched Something into Space

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
February 7, 2016
Filed under ,
North Korea Launched Something into Space

USSTRATCOM Detects, Tracks North Korean Missile Launch into Space, USSTRATCOM
“OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. – U.S. Strategic Command systems detected and tracked what we assess was a North Korean missile launch into space at 6:29 p.m. CST. The missile was tracked on a southerly launch over the Yellow Sea.”
Highlights and Initial Thoughts From The DPRK Launch, Arms Control Wonk
“You can also expect the US and South Korea to attempt to recover the wreckage of the first and second stages of the rocket. In 2014, the UN Panel of Experts on North Korea documented many components of foreign origin.”
North Korean rocket puts object into space, angers neighbours, US
“The U.S. Strategic Command said it had detected a missile entering space, and South Korea’s military said the rocket had put an object into orbit. North Korea said the launch of the satellite Kwangmyongsong-4, named after late leader Kim Jong Il, was a “complete success” and it was making a polar orbit of Earth every 94 minutes.”
U.N. Security Council calls emergency meeting over North Korean rocket launch, CNN
“North Korea launched a satellite into space Sunday, its state media reported, triggering a wave of international condemnation and prompting the United States, South Korea and Japan to call for an emergency meeting of the U.N.”

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20 responses to “North Korea Launched Something into Space”

  1. EtOH says:
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    Everyone panic!!

    • fcrary says:
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      I’m not.panicking, but we are talking about a country with atomic bombs, ballistic missiles (although neither are all that sophisticated) and a dictirtorial government run by someone of questionable sanity. That might not be a cause for panic, but a.bit of concern and worry might be in order.

      • Daniel Woodard says:
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        The time to be concerned was in 2003, when the US terminated the agreement under which NK had dismantled its nuclear program. It’s hard to imagine a more short-sighted decision. NK responded in the obvious way, by (legally) withdrawing from the NPT and asking the UN inspectors, who had been observing the abandoned nuclear sites continuously since 1986, to leave.

        Today our best and maybe only bet is to encourage communication and trade in consumer goods with China and SK, to hopefully give the NK people a better sense of the world beyond their borders.

        • fcrary says:
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          This isn’t clear to me. Since the actions of the DPRK appear to be decided by one person, I think estimating the risks involved reading his mind. Since I lack that ability, I’m not sure about the realities risks, today versus 2003.

        • chuckc192000 says:
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          Also in 2003, more attention should have been turned to North Korea instead of Iraq.

        • John Thomas says:
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          What I’ve seen is NK was enriching uranium in violation of their agreement and they refused to stop.

      • Yale S says:
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        I see no great benefit to sophistication in either missiles or atomic warheads. The Nagasaki bomb landed way off target yet obliterated 10s of thousands of lives.
        An NK crude 10 kiloton atomic bomb landing 10 miles off-target in Tokyo or LA would be a catastrophe with a million casualties.
        Like you say, no panic YET (unless I was a Japanese or South Korean), but a definite cause for concern.

        • Jeff2Space says:
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          Such an act would almost surely result in an “eye for an eye” counterattack on Pyongyang. Everyone knows this and it is the foundation of mutually assured destruction.

          NK is just pursuing nuclear weapons so it will be taken “seriously” at the negotiating table. But the reality is that starting a nuclear war with the US is a losing proposition.

          • Yale S says:
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            I agree that NK is unlikely (but not impossibly!) going to launch an atomic missile. It would be suicidal (but craziness does abound there).

            As you say, it is for leverage, as is Israel’s bomb and a potential future Iranian bomb.

          • Michael Spencer says:
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            Suicidal from the POV of the west. I can hardly imagine living in the PRK, but after generations of US-hating, sloganeering and the like it’s fairly easy to see a *very* foreign thought-process where self immolation for the fatherland is the ultimate goal of a worthy life.

  2. Tritium3H says:
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    LOL. Love the animated twitter post.

    • Jeff Havens says:
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      Well, if the reports are accurate and going with the animation, Kim Jong Un weighs 200kg (approx 441 lbs). Wow, I guess Fearless Leader weighing that much is a symbol of health and wealth in the DPRK.

  3. Michael Spencer says:
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    Media reports that there is suspicion the PRK is actually testing ballistic rockets but no mention of any basis for this suspicion.

    • Daniel Woodard says:
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      Jim Oberg was actually invited to NK for the last launch and provided considerable evidence that NK did not have and was not developing a satellite payload, and that the LV was more likely intended as a missile.I don’t think it is a matter of subterfuge in any serious sense, Kim Jung Il knows we know, and more important, his people know. That’s the whole point.

      The NK regime will do what it believes it needs to do to stay in power. When their people were starving and cold and restive, Clinton offered a small amount of food and oil and they agreed to dismantle the whole nuclear program. When the aid was cancelled by the subsequent US administration NK was faced with unrest and took the next best option, expelling the inspectors, withdrawing from the NPT and developing nuclear arms to build national unity by showing its people that they were a world power.

      • John Thomas says:
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        According to wikipedia, NK violated the terms of the agreement enriching uranium even though it wasn’t suppose to. I didn’t see any mention of aid being canceled.

        • Yale S says:
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          The promise of oil etc. aid in 1994 to NK was what brought NK into the agreement. When it was discovered during the Bush admin that NK was starting an attempt to enrich uranium, they cut the aid and NK bailed from the agreement. I think it was handled wrong.

    • fcrary says:
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      Technically, it could be both. There is very little difference between a launch vehicle and a ballistic missile. In terms of details, I can think of three reasons to doubt it is a.space mission. The last (and first) object they put on orbit did not transmit any signals, as far as anyone could tell. That makes it either a dummy/test mass to test rocket technology, a complete failure, or amazingly advanced stealth technology. For this launch, a orbited mass of 200 kg was reported. I’m a fan of small/micro/nano spacecraft, but even so, 200 kg isn’t all that much for the implied significance in the North Korean press. Finally, they said it reached orbit in ten minutes. If that isn’t press/propaganda, it’s a relatively hot ride. An optimal launch trajectory typically takes longer (20 to 30, I think.) Ballistic missiles are often designed for a fast launch. None of that is proof, but this feels more like a weapons test.

    • Yale S says:
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      I think it is both for surface-to-surface long range missile and for satellite launches.
      The Iranian and NK missiles are ever growing versions of the Scud missile which was the direct child of a blend of the Nazi V2 and Wasserfall missiles. In the US the path was similar, V2 to Redstone to Saturn.
      In both Iran and NK this allows both weapon delivery platform development and space launches. The satellite launches provide massive propaganda and actually useful payloads in the 50-200kg range, while providing cover for weapon development..

      With “countervalue” nuclear warheads not needing particular accuracy nor reliable yield, the difference between ICBMs and a satellite launchers is mostly a paint job. (important to note that these missiles, while not solids, do use storable propellents, the same as the US Titan ICBMS, or the Russian SS-9.