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(2nd LD) N. Korea says communications satellite in orbit after successful launch
SEOUL, April 5 (Yonhap) -- North Korea confirmed its rocket launch on Sunday, saying that "communications satellite Kwangmyongsong-2" has successfully entered into orbit.
But neighboring countries monitoring the launch have found "no evidence yet" to prove North Korea's claim, a senior Seoul official said on condition of anonymity.
"Scientists and technicians of the DPRK (North Korea) have succeeded in putting satellite Kwangmyongsong-2, an experimental communications satellite, into orbit by means of carrier rocket Unha-2 under the state long-term plan for the development of outer space," the North's state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
The three-stage rocket Unha-2 blasted off from a launch pad on the country's northeast coast at 11:20 a.m. and put the satellite safely into orbit 2 seconds past 11:29 a.m., the report claimed.
The Kwangmyongsong-2 satellite is now following an "elliptic orbit, at the angle of inclination of 40.6 degrees at 490 km perigee and 1 426 km apogee," it said, adding its cycle is 104 minutes and 12 seconds.
"The satellite is going round its routine orbit," the KCNA said.
"The carrier rocket and the satellite developed through our indigenous wisdom and technology are the shining result of efforts to develop the nation's space science and technology on a higher level," it added.
The South Korean government assumes the North Korean rocket was a space vehicle, not a missile, but it was not yet known whether it was carrying a satellite and whether it entered orbit as North Korea claims, the Seoul government official said.
"It has not been confirmed yet whether the North Korean report is true or not," he said.
After sending off what it called satellite Kwangmyongsong-1 in 1998, North Korea claimed a successful launch, but international monitors found no new satellite operating in space. The U.S. government later called it a "failed" satellite launch.
The KCNA report said the space launch will boost the country's campaign to build a strong nation by 2012. North Korea seeks to become a "great, prosperous and powerful nation" by that year, the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's father and late President Kim Il-sung.
"This is powerfully encouraging the Korean people all out in the general advance," it said.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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