N. Korea Helps Iran’s Satellite Launch
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
North Korean missile developers helped Iran launch a rocket carrying a satellite last month, according to reports Monday.
The Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun said that Pyongyang was apparently using the same technology used for the Iranian launch to its missile, the Taepodong-2.
``After the successful launch, North Korea seemed to have received related data from Iran,'' the newspaper reported, quoting an anonymous source in Washington D.C.
Tehran claimed that the ``Omid'' ― satellite was sent into orbit by the Safir-2 space-launch vehicle on Feb 2.
It said the Omid, a research satellite, would test equipment in space as part of a national plan to send an astronaut into space by 2021.
There was, however, no confirmation of the Iranian announcement by other countries.
Japanese media said North Korean technicians were deeply involved in the entire process of the launch.
Last Tuesday, Pyongyang announced it was preparing to launch a ``satellite'' from its northeastern coast as part of its space program. But outside experts believed it is a test of a long-range missile, theoretically capable of reaching Alaska and Hawaii.
``Full-scale preparations are underway at a satellite launch site,'' the North's space committee said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The committee added the Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite would be launched on the Unha-2 rocket without specifying when.
It continued, ``If this satellite is successfully launched, the space science technology of our country will take another major step for the nation to become an economic powerhouse.''
The secretive state made a similar claim in 1998 when it launched the Kwangmyongsong-1 satellite, which the outside world believed was a ``Taepodong-1,'' a multi-stage missile with an estimated range of roughly 2,000 to 2,500 kilometers. It was fired over Japan.