[FPSPACE] US Directior of National Intelligence Blair: NK is going for a space launch

[Peter Pesavento]

>From agency france presse:

 

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US: North Korea moving ahead with space launch

Published: Tuesday March 10, 2009

North Korea
<http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_North_Korea_moving_ahead_with_sp_03102009.h
tml##>  is planning a space launch, as it claims, director of US
intelligence Dennis Blair told lawmakers amid speculation about what sort of
rocket Pyongyang plans to fire.

"I tend to believe that the North Koreans announced that they are going to
do a space launch and I believe that that's what they intend. I could be
wrong but that would be my estimate," Blair told the Senate Armed Services
Committee.

Officials in Seoul and Washington have said that there are signs the
communist state is preparing to test its Taepodong-2 missile, which has a
range of 6,700 kilometers (4,100 miles) and could theoretically reach
Alaska.

The missile was initially launched in 2006 but failed after 40 seconds,
according to US officials.

"There's a space launch vehicle that North Korea launches, the technology
<http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_North_Korea_moving_ahead_with_sp_03102009.h
tml##>  is indistinguishable from intercontinental ballistic missiles," said
Blair.

"And if a three-stage space launch vehicle works, then that could reach not
only Alaska, Hawaii but also part of what the Hawaiians call 'the Mainland'
and what the Alaskans call 'the Lower 48,'" he said.

Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lieutenant General Michael Maples, at the
same hearing, noted that "North Korea announced in late February they intend
to launch a communications satellite, the Kwangmyongsong-2."

The testimony was coupled to the annual Threat Assessment of the
Intelligence Community, which showcased growing US concerns that Pyongyang
may have a secret program to enrich uranium.

"The IC (US intelligence community) continues to assess North Korea has
pursued a uranium enrichment capability in the past. Some in the
Intelligence Community have increasing concerns that North Korea has an
ongoing covert uranium enrichment program," Blair warned in prepared
testimony.

"We remain concerned North Korea could again export nuclear technology,"
despite pledges not to under agreements reached in six-country
denuclearization talks grouping China, Japan, North and South Korea, Russia
and the United States, Blair said.

In 2008, North Korea shut down three core facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear
complex and has completed eight of the 11 steps to disable the facility, he
said.

But "much work remains," and North Korea has recently "issued hardline
statements suggesting further challenges to denuclearization," according to
Blair, and there are no signs of political instability in Pyongyang.

While supreme leader Kim Jong Il "probably suffered a stroke in August that
incapacitated him for several weeks," it appears that his health has
improved "and we assess he is making key decisions," said Blair.

"We see no organized opposition to Kim Jong Il's rule and only occasional
incidents of social disorder," said Blair.

"The state's control apparatus by all accounts remains strong, sustaining
the dismal condition of human rights in North Korea," he said.



 

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