Soon the communist North Korea will launch a rocket that will carry a communications satellite. This piece of news is official; however, leaders of the country gave no information on the date of the launch that will obviously be a “great step forward for the communist state.”
According to BBC this is not the first occasion that such a statement has been made. At the end of the 1990’s North Korea tested its short-range missile called Taepodong-1 and it announced that it would launch a satellite into orbit. That, however, has not happened so far.
Nevertheless, North Korea has not given up his idea to put a satellite on the sky. It is said that the successor of the first Taepodong missile, Taepodong-2 will be launched from the site in the northeast of the country. BBC quoted the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA): „Full-scale preparations are under way to launch a rocket Unha-2 to put communication satellite Kwangmyongsong-2 into orbit. When this satellite is successfully launched, our space technology will make a great step forward toward becoming an economically strong country.”
Some say that since Taepodong-2 is a long-range missile it has a theoretical range of almost 7,000 km, which is just enough to target the USA. The missile was tested back in 2006 and the test seemed to be a failure: Taepodong-2 exploded. It was not long ago when new US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton visited Asia, including North Korea and gave a warning in terms of „rash moves”.
