WASHINGTON: North Korea has conducted motor tests to improve its long-range
missiles after a failed launch in April, a US think tank said on Monday after
reviewing new satellite images.
Since the embarrassing flop in
April, the communist regime appears to have carried out at least two tests of
large motors needed for rockets and worked on a launch platform, the US-Korea
Institute at Johns Hopkins University said.
The institute examined commercial
images of the Sohae satellite launch station between April and September and
found that 34 fuel tanks had been moved and vegetation appeared to be burned,
next to a flame trench stained with an orange residue.
Such fuel tests would boost
development of engines for the Unha-3, the rocket which North Korea
unsuccessfully launched in April, or what seemed to be a new, longer-range
missile displayed at a military parade the same month.
Some analysts believe that a
North Korean rocket, if successfully developed, could eventually reach the
range to hit the United States.
Nick Hansen, an expert on imagery
analysis, said that North Korea may step up action after elections in both the
United States and South Korea, the regime's two primary foes.
"In the aftermath of the US
and South Korean presidential elections, Pyongyang may embark on a new round of
activities in the first half of 2013, including rocket and nuclear tests that
will contribute to further development of its nuclear deterrent," he wrote
on the institute's blog, 38 North.
South Korea's defence minister,
Kim Kwan-Jin, said last week that North Korea had completed preparations for
another nuclear test and long-range missile launches.
However, 38 North in September
reported a work stoppage at a new launch pad for intercontinental missiles --
possibly due to rain -- that could set the project back by up to two years.
North Korea defiantly went ahead
with the rocket launch in April, saying it was trying to put a satellite in
orbit, but it disintegrated just two to three minutes after blast-off.
The test put a halt to the latest
international effort to engage the isolated state, with the United States
calling off plans to deliver badly-needed food assistance.
- AFP/xq
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