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The slow search for Kwangmyongsong 4
Since just after it launched on Feb. 7, satellite monitors have been watching and listening for North Korea’s newest satellite but to-date, nothing. We know it’s up there. U.S. Strategic Command picked it up on its space surveillance system a few hours after it launched and published details of its orbit. Armed with that knowledge, satellite…
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Sanctions bill passes Congress, is sent to Obama
A bill intended to tighten sanctions on North Korea and anyone working with the country passed the U.S. Congress on Friday. Its next stop is the desk of President Obama. House Resolution 757 (HR757) is the first bill to pass both houses of congress that specifically targets North Korea and was proposed by Ed Royce, a California Republican…
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U.S.: No reason to doubt execution reports
The U.S. State Department says it has no reason to doubt media reports that Ri Yong Gil, North Korea’s army chief of staff, has been executed. “Frankly, it exemplifies, I guess, the brutality of the political climate in North Korea,” said Mark Toner, the State Dept.’s deputy spokesman, during a briefing on Thursday. Toner was…
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Bill would expand U.S. support for foreign media aimed at DPRK
A bill that would strengthen and modernize U.S. support of international media aimed at North Korea was introduced into the U.S. Congress on Wednesday. House Resolution 4051 (H.R.4051) is being proposed as an amendment to the North Korea Human Rights Act of 2004 and expands that bill’s support of shortwave radio broadcasts to include newer means of information dissemination…
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Latest reports say Kwangmyongsong-4 is under control
North Korea’s Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite has stopped tumbling and is in a stable orbit, according to reports. On Monday, CBS News and CNN quoted unnamed U.S. government officials as saying the satellite was tumbling on its orbit, but reports on Tuesday say it’s stabilized. “They got the tumbling under control,” an unnamed official told Reuters. That’s an…
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Reports: Kwangmyongsong-4 tumbling in orbit
It might have happened again. According to a CBS News report that quotes unnamed “U.S. officials,” North Korea’s Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite is tumbling as it orbits the planet. CNN quotes “a senior U.S. defense official” as saying the same thing. There’s no word on how the U.S. came to this conclusion, but it was likely spotted…
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Rocket launch edition of Rodong Sinmun
Seldom do North Korean’s see such a colorful 3-page spread in the daily Rodong Sinmun newspaper as they woke up to on Monday. The front page carries a picture of Kim Jong Un signing the launch order for the satellite on February 6 — something that wouldn’t be reported by North Korean media until after…
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About those South Korean lawmaker’s comments on satellite weight
There’s some pretty startling and definitive comments being carried in the South Korean media, apparently uttered by Lee Cheol-woo of the ruling Saenuri Party after an intelligence briefing on Sunday. Yonhap quotes lawmakers as saying the National Intelligence Service told them the satellite is presumed to weigh 200 kilograms, double the estimate for the satellite launched in 2012. It…
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THAAD deployment ‘at the earliest possible date’
Discussions between the U.S. and South Korea on deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system will begin as soon as this week towards deploying it “at the earliest possible date,” assuming an agreement is reached, the Department of Defense said on Monday. “We’d like to see this move as quickly as possible,…
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Here’s what we know about Kwangmyongsong-4 so far
North Korea’s Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite is up in space and orbiting the globe. The country’s media said the launch took place a 0030 UTC on Sunday — something that matched with detection of the launch at around 0031 UTC. The rocket appeared to keep largely to its intended path so the likelihood of success was good and U.S. Strategic…
