Korea: North blew up rocket stage to confound analysts

U.S. Strategic Command on Monday said it continued to track two objects put into orbit by North Korea, the rocket payload or satellite, and the rocket body.

The rogue state successfully fired what it claimed to be a satellite into space at the weekend. But, North Korea has attempted to launch a satellite into orbit five times, and because the technology is basically the same, North Korea can learn a considerable amount about how to develop a successful ballistic missile from a successful satellite launch.

The launch will heighten worldwide pressure on China, North Korea’s biggest foreign investor, to do more.

“We would see the deployment as soon as possible”, said the spokesman, Peter Cook, in a press conference.

North Korea also conducted a nuclear test last month in violation of worldwide law, setting off US and global condemnation.

But it remains unclear whether it has developed the technology to make a missile re-enter the atmosphere, critical if it is to use the missile as as weapon.

On the economic front, the USA sanctions legislation could also cause discomfort in Beijing, which is North Korea’s main trading partner and source of economic support.

A senior USA defense official said the rocket headed toward space and, based on its trajectory over the Yellow Sea, “did not pose a threat to the US or our allies”.

Cook stressed that the negotiations underscored the “ironclad” commitment of the United States to defend South Korea and would be “focused solely” on the DPRK.

The report, compiled by the Agency for Defense Development, says the Kwangmyongsong 4 satellite is in orbit and that the rocket’s three stages separated successfully. “The underlying components are less important than North Korea’s ability to integrate them in a functioning rocket programme”, he said. The Chinese are concerned the missile defense system could be used against them, and the USA sanctions could hit Chinese companies that trade with North Korea.

In a resolution unanimously passed, the lower house urged the worldwide community to work together and quickly adopt a new U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for tough new sanctions against North Korea. Experts say, however, that long-range rockets and intercontinental ballistic missiles are basically the same with differences only in payloads.

The country is banned from rocket launches using any ballistic missile technologies, according to multiple UN Security Council resolutions.

The United States’ top military commander will discuss North Korea’s latest satellite launch with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts this week as part of efforts to strengthen military ties between the three countries, US defense officials said on Monday.

“But if anything, it would be China’s implementation of existing sanctions that would tighten the screws on North Korea”.