North Korea plans to launch long-range rocket within days

North Korea plans to launch a long-range rocket between 10 and 22 December, a spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology said Saturday, according to its official news agency. The aim is to launch a satellite, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The Unha-3 rocket will launch from the Sohae Space Center in North Phyongan Province and put a “working satellite” into orbit, according to KCNA. The planned launch is unusual because it comes during the wintertime and only months after a failed attempt in April. On that occasion, Pyongyang also said the rocket was supposed to put a satellite into orbit, but the launch was seen by many other countries as cover for a ballistic missile test and drew international condemnation. A second version of the same Korean-made Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite is to be launched this time, KCNA said. Scientists and technicians have analyzed the mistakes made in April, when the rocket broke apart shortly after takeoff, and have worked to improve the reliability and precision of the satellite and carrier rocket, the news agency reported. The “polar-orbiting earth observation satellite” will blast off southward on a trajectory designed so that parts of the carrier rocket that fall off during the launch will not land on neighboring nations, the news agency said. It said North Korea had acted with utmost transparency on its last “peaceful scientific and technological satellite launch,” and would “fully comply with relevant international regulations and usage” this time too. Echoing its response to April’s launch, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said in a preliminary statement: “The so-called working satellite is a test fire of long-range rocket in disguise and it is clearly in violation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1874.” Another big rocket launch by North Korea could further sour its relations with the United States and South Korea. The failed launch in April scuppered a deal for Washington to provide thousands of tons of food aid to the North’s malnourished population. It also drew criticism from the UN Security Council, which repeated demands for Pyongyang not to carry out similar tests in the future. The botched launch followed attempts in 2006 and 2009 that were judged by international experts as having failed.