NK satellite in stable orbit, not transmitting

Expert: status of Kwangmyongsong-4 unimportant

By Jung Min-ho

North Korea’s satellite, launched Feb. 7, has been reportedly stabilized after initial trouble in achieving orbit.

ABC News cited an official from the U.S. Department of Defense as saying that the Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite “appears to have been stabilized,” though it is unclear if it is transmitting signals yet.

However, analysts said that the current status of the satellite matters little to the regime.

Yang Wuk, a research fellow at the Korea Defense and Security Forum, said that whether the satellite is in a stable orbit or capable of transmitting data back to Earth is unimportant to the North because the satellite will not be used for weather forecasting as the regime claims.

“What matters to the North is to develop technology that can send a satellite to a spot at the time it desires,” he said. “It seems that what the regime wanted to test through the rocket launch has already been done.”

The ultimate goal of the North’s series of rocket tests, he said, is to build an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of threatening the U.S. mainland.

While some experts believe the regime is a decade or more from using what it learns from its rocket launches to build such a weapon, Yang said he believes it could be achieved in five years.

“Over the past five years, North Korea has tested its rocketry technology. Its plans for the next five years are to test its missile guidance and atmospheric reentry technologies,” he said.

On Sunday, the North launched a rocket carrying a satellite, which the outside world saw as a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test.

The Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday that the three-stage rocket successfully separated all of its three stages before putting the satellite into orbit.

The ministry also said the satellite is heavier than the 100-kilogram one the North allegedly sent into orbit in 2012.