In a South Korean Ministry of Unification daily press briefing on Friday, Vice-spokesperson Lee Jong Ju announced the release of a statement by the Chosun Outer Space Technology Committee which stated that “Kwangmyungsung-2,” the satellite North Korea claims to have launched on April 5th, was “put into orbit successfully and is working normally.”
This was the second such statement from the Committee, the first having been released when “Kwangmyungsung-2” was ready to go into operation on February 24th. This new statement claims that remote-sensing and control tests on the satellite were completed. It also announced that, with one month having passed since its alleged launch, the Committee has “received and analyzed measurement data from the satellite.”
Furthermore, the statement claimed, “According to the orbit tracking detector results, we have been able to confirm that our satellite was put into the correct orbit, and is transmitting the “Great Leader Kim Il Sung’s Song” and the “Dear Leader Kim Jong Il’s Song” at 470 MHz.”
The Committee statement also waxed lyrical about the success of the launch, proclaiming, “We have taken a great step forward in peaceful space development activities through the success of this communications satellite, according to the comprehensive plan for establishing the satellite’s launch and control system and safely putting it into orbit.”
“We have accumulated lots of experience in launching and operating this test communications satellite “Kwangmyungsung-2,” and have made great advances in laying the scientific and technological foundations to launch a practical satellite,” he added.
In drawing a division between the “Kwangmyungsung-2” and a “practical satellite,” the North has left the door to a future launch open.
The opinion of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is that this statement is false. The ITU has been unable to confirm that any satellite has ever existed or been put into orbit by North Korea.
North Korea also insists that the “Kwangmyungsung-1,” which Pyongyang claims was launched at the time of what the world knows as the “Taepodong-1” missile launch of August 31st, 1998, is still operating in its orbit. The U.S. and South Korea dismiss the North Korean insistence on the basis that there is an absence of any supporting evidence.
