North Korea going ahead with missile launch as scheduled

North Korea is preparing to launch a long-range missile as scheduled, according to satellite images.

38north.org, a website on North Korea run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said Monday, “A car equipped with an antenna that hasn’t been seen before was spotted at a rocket launching site, and fuel and an oxidizer tank were also spotted.”

The site analyzed images taken March 20 by the satellite imagery company Digital Globe over the skies of Tongchang-ri in Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province. Another satellite picture of the car with an antenna 2 meters in diameter was also displayed.

Voice of America also said the same day, “The crane atop the erection tower had been swung wide and the work platforms folded back. Given this, the rocket assembly is impending.”

The report quoted Digital Globe`s senior analyst as saying a truck loaded with fuel was spotted injecting fuel and the fuel will be put into the rocket after its assembly on the launch pad vertically.

Based on the North’s launch of Taepodong-2 in April 2009, CNN also said preparations for the launch were spotted 12 days before the announced launch date. When Pyongyang fired the long-range missile in 2009, it began assembly of the rocket 10 days before the launch and finished all preparations seven days before the launch to conduct a rehearsal.

Vehicles carrying high-ranking North Korean officials were spotted arriving at a control tower 25 minutes before the launch, CNN added. The North announced at the time that the late Kim Jong Il and his son and successor Jong Un were at the site.

In the Philippines, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and the Management Council said Monday that ships and airplanes will be forbidden from operating over the skies and seas east of Luzon Island, which North Korea`s missile is expected to pass on April 12-16.

shcho@donga.com