SEOUL: North Korea is preparing to launch a satellite, a Seoul newspaper said Tuesday, as outside observers warn that the nuclear-armed regime’s space programme is a fig leaf for weapons tests. Pyongyang is under multiple UN sanctions over its nuclear and missile tests and is prohibited from carrying out any launch using ballistic missile technology including satellites. Pyongyang launched their Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite in February 2016, which most in the international community viewed as a disguised ballistic missile test. Earlier this month, the Russian newspaper Rossiyskaia Gazeta quoted a Russian military expert, Vladimir Khrustalev, as saying that North Korea was expected to launch two satellites – an Earth exploration satellite and a communications satellite – in the near future. Khrustalev made the remark after returning from his week-long trip to North Korea in mid-November when he met with representatives of the country’s National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA), the Russian daily said.

Source: New Strait Times December 26, 2017 04:18 UTC