North Korean Launch Site Caught On Satellite Imagery, More Advanced Than Originally Thought
Recent satellite imagery taken over North Korea shows that the country’s rocket launch which will occur later this month is “more extensive … than previously understood.
The newly captured image shows a mobile radar trailer, a necessity for performing the launch, along with what appears to be empty fuel and oxidizer tanks.
Pyongyang plans to test the satellite launch between April 12 and April 16 and Washington says its a veiled attempt to cover up a long-range missile test.
For its part North Korea says the satellite is meant to study crops and natural resources in the country, officials also state that the launching of the rocket is meant to honor the April 15 centennial of founder Kim Il Sung’s birth.
The US fears that the countries true aim is to create a nuclear missile in the future that is capable of reaching US borders. In 2009 a similar launch drew international concerns that leaders in North Korea were ratcheting up their attempts to build a nuclear arsenal and launch nuclear weapons.
During the 2009 tension build up North Korea left nuclear disarmament talks and several weeks later the country tested a new nuclear weapon under the watchful eye of the international community.
In the meantime if North Korea launched any type of missile it will put an end to a Feb. 29 accord between North Korea and the United States, that accord saw the United States send food aid to the poor nation. U.S. officials have already confirmed that plans to stop those food shipments are already being put into place.
