hankyoreh

2012

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

North Korea has told China that it plans to conduct one or two more nuclear tests this year, according to a source with access to the highest levels of government in both countries, Reuters reported on Feb. 16. These tests would reportedly be intended to draw the US into direct talks. North Korea is not apparently discouraged by the additional UN sanctions that come from its provocations.

A US website on North Korean affairs said preparations for another long-range rocket launch had been detected at the country's Musudan launch site.

http://38north.org/2013/02/tonghae021413/

38 North, which is operated by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, posted the information in a Feb. 14 article titled "New Developments at the Tonghae [East Sea] Rocket Test Site."

"[C]onstruction of new facilities at the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground (commonly referred to as Musudan-ri), previously slowed by the typhoons that ravaged the east coast of North Korea last summer, has made important progress since late October 2012," it read.

Musudan is a village located in Hwadae county, North Hamgyong province.

Based on pictures taken by the US commercial satellite company Digital Globe between August 2012 and January 2013, the website said that two vehicles had been seen parked south of the site in October of last year, while a crane was repositioned and snow cleared from about half the launch site in December and January.

While noting that the absence of any satellite images since early January made any conclusions premature, the website suggested that North Korea may be making preparations to test-launch a liquid-fueled rocket.

It also noted a possible link between the launch site and recent press reports stating that North Korea was preparing to test either the KN-08, a newly developed mobile long-range missile, or an intermediate-range Musudan missile.

Another possibility it raised was that North Korea might launch another Unha, the rocket that it successfully put into orbit last December.

A Ministry of National Defense source expressed skepticism at the suggestions. "This is very old intelligence, and it doesn't appear to have much credibility at the moment," the source said.

38 North also said structures around the new launch site suggested that North Korea may be receiving assistance from Iran. In particular, it noted that a flame trench at the site was similar to one used at Iran's Semnan launch sight. The flame trench is used to protect the rocket from gases.

Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on Feb. 15 that Iranian scientists may have been present at North Korea's nuclear test.

According to the agency, Iran may have inquired about observing the test last November, offering North Korea the equivalent of tens of millions of US dollars in Chinese yuan in exchange.

US secretary of state John Kerry announced on Feb. 13 that Washington would be coordinating its response to the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programs.

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