What is behind N.K.’s rocket launch?
North Korea has positioned what
is believed to be a long-range ballistic missile on a launch pad, a U.S.
counter-proliferation official said on Wednesday.
Here
are some questions and answers about the rocket, which Pyongyang says is the centrepiece of a peaceful programme
to put satellites in space and has told international agencies will be launched
between April 4 and 8.
WHY IS THE NORTH CONDUCTING THE
LAUNCH?
North Korea's propaganda machine
would portray a successful launch as a mighty symbol of Kim Jong-il's
leadership after a suspected stroke in August raised questions about his grip
on power.
It
would also be able to show off to all Koreans that it has launched a rocket to
carry a satellite just ahead of the wealthy South, which hopes to launch one in
July.
Internationally,
a launch would signal to U.S. President Barack Obama that North Korea
is getting closer to developing a weapon that can reliably hit U.S. territory
and should be treated seriously.
On
the business front, the secretive state would be able to sell proven missile
technology abroad. Weapons sales are one of the few major export items the
isolated country has to offer.
IS IT DANGEROUS?
Most
experts do not think the planned launch poses any immediate threat to the
region, other than the potential for pieces of the rocket to hit something or
someone when it falls from the sky.
In
the long term, any sort of test increases the threat posed by North Korea because it brings it closer to
building a missile that can hit U.S.
territory.
A
failed test will yield valuable data for the North but will be a major
embarrassment for the state. Its first and only launch in July 2006 of the
Taepodong-2, with an estimated range of 6,700 km (4,160 miles), fizzled out
after a few seconds in the air.
Experts
said they do not believe North
Korea, which tested a nuclear device in 2006,
has the ability to miniaturise an atomic weapon to
place on a missile but the secretive state has been trying to develop such a
warhead.
Even
if it had, they say, North
Korea does not appear to have the technology
to guide the missile to a target.
WHY DID PYONGYANG GIVE THE WORLD NOTICE OF LAUNCH?
This
strengthens North Korea's
case that its motives are peaceful. North Korea contends that every
country has the right to peaceful space exploration and that U.N. sanctions
barring it from ballistic missile tests do not apply.
ISN'T A MISSILE TEST DIFFERENT
FROM SATELLITE LAUNCH?
For
the United States, South Korea and Japan,
there is no difference between the two because North Korea uses the same rocket --
the Taepodong-2. The three countries see any test of this rocket as a violation
of U.N. sanctions because the launch is to help the North improve its
long-range missile technology.
A
complete missile test would include having a warhead re-enter the atmosphere on
target, and presents more of a technological challenge than a satellite launch.
Experts
are uncertain if the impoverished North can actually produce a working
satellite, let alone place it into orbit. But they said North Korea may
be able to make one based on the rudimentary designs of early Soviet
satellites.
CAN THE U.S. OR JAPAN SHOOT IT DOWN?
The
United States
or others can destroy the rocket while it is on the pad at the North's east
coast missile base called Musudan-ri.
Experts
said it takes North Korea
about a week to prepare for a launch once it is placed on a pad, making it
vulnerable to a strike.
The
United States and Japan have anti-missile systems in place along
the flight path announced by North
Korea but the political risks of shooting
down the missile are enormous.
North Korea has warned it would
see such a move as an act of war and analysts said a strike on the rocket could
easily trigger some sort of conflict on the heavily armed Korean peninsula that
has the potential to harm the major economies in the region.
WHAT CAN BE DONE TO HALT THE
LAUNCH OR PUNISH THE NORTH?
Not
much.
The
United States, South Korea and Japan,
are almost certain to call for U.N. sanctions, but they will find their path
blocked by China and Russia, both permanent veto-wielding members of
the U.N Security Council and unlikely to punish Pyongyang.
In
this case, Washington, Seoul
and Tokyo will
call for tighter implementation of U.N. sanctions imposed after the July 2006
missile test and October 2006 nuclear test. The sanctions restrict the North's
arms trade and financial transactions while banning the import of luxury goods
and have not been as strictly applied as some would have liked.
Source:
Reuters