hankyoreh

DC

United States Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair became the first high-ranking official in the United States to announce that he thought the object North Korea is planning to launch is in fact a satellite.

At the Annual Threat Assessment briefing for the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday, Blair said, “The North Koreans announced that they were going to do a space launch, and I believe that that’s what they intend.” He added, “I could be wrong, but that would be my estimate.”

With the public acknowledgement by Blair, who oversees 16 intelligence organizations in the United States, that North Korea’s launch vehicle is a satellite, some are interpreting this as meaning that the possibilities of an interception by the U.S. have decreased proportionally.

But in the briefing, Blair confirmed once again that he equates a satellite with a missile. With the U.S. administration sticking to the position that the technology is the same for a satellite launch rocket and an intercontinental ballistic missile, the possibility remains that the United States will pursue sanctions even if North Korea launches a satellite, in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718 forbidding the launching of a ballistic missile by North Korea.

In response to Blair’s statement, a Cheong Wa Dae official said, “It was not a remark conclusively stating that it is a satellite.” The official added, “Right now, it’s difficult to predict whether it will be a missile or a satellite.”

Another Cheong Wa Dae official noted that Blair used the expression “space-launch vehicle” rather than “satellite” in his response. “It could be a missile or a satellite, depending on whether you load a warhead or a satellite on the space-launch vehicle,” the official noted. This means that a space-launch vehicle does not mean a satellite and is simply an objective expression for a transporter.

Japanese media reported that there is no legal basis for sanctions and no possibility of a successful interception in the event that North Korea launches a long-range missile or satellite. The Yomiuri Shimbun commented Tuesday that the legal basis does not exist if North Korea launches a ballistic missile with range extending far beyond the territorial land and waters of Japan. Asai Motofumi, director of the Hiroshima Peace Institute at Hiroshima City University and a former Japanese foreign ministry official, wrote in the “Comments” section of the Tuesday edition of the Mainichi Daily News that according to the Outer Space Treaty, which states that all nations can explore and use outer space freely and without any discrimination, it is self-evident that North Korea too can exercise these rights.

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