North Korea’s Sohae launch site gears up for action (Image: DigitalGlobe/Getty)

Update: North Korea successfully launched its Unha-3 rocket at 00:49 GMT today and says it has placed a satellite in orbit. The US confirmed an object had entered orbit and condemned the launch as a threat to regional security. The Japanese government says the rocket passed over Okinawa, south of the Japanese mainland, but the country’s military did not attempt to intercept it, despite previous threats to do so.

Original article, published 3 December 2012

North Korea’s plans to launch a long-range rocket later this month look set to heighten tensions in north-east Asia, despite claiming that the mission is intended to put a satellite into orbit.


A previous North Korean launch attempt in April failed just a minute after blast-off, with the Unha-3 rocket falling in to the sea. A spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology says scientists have analysed the mistakes of this launch and are now set for a new test between 10 and 22 December.

North Korea says the launch will place its Kwangmyongsong-3 Earth observation satellite (the name means “bright star”) in a polar orbit. It also says the flight path has been designed to avoid any rocket-booster parts falling to Earth over neighbouring countries.

Other nations suspect that its true purpose is a ballistic missile test, which would be a violation of UN restrictions.

“Provocative”

Japan has readied its armed forces to prepare for the launch and to shoot the rocket down if it enters the country’s airspace. The US State Department has called the launch “highly provocative”.

“We hope all relevant parties will do that which benefits peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, [and] hope all sides will respond calmly and avoid exacerbating the situation,” says Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang.

David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit body based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, says that a successful satellite launch would demonstrate North Korea’s potential for building a ballistic missile. “However, it has not test-flown a heat shield that would be needed for a long-range missile, and may not be able to build a small enough nuclear warhead for such a missile,” he says.

Wright questions whether North Korea has really had time to learn from the mistake of the previous launch, and suggests this new attempt may be a response to South Korea’s attempts to launch its own rocket, the most recent of which failed last month.