New satellite imagery has been claimed to show preparations beginning for a long-range rocket launch in North Korea despite international objections.
TA sources suggest that this may be an over reaction. The odd thing about thsi launch is that the announcement came just two weeks after the Feb. 29 U.S.-North Korean agreement, which had buoyed hopes for improved relations between the wartime enemies under its new and untested leader, Kim Jong Un. He came to power after his father Kim Jong Il who died of a heart attack in December, taking Pyongyang’s secretive, hereditary regime into a third generation.
older image of site
While the North Koreans are clearly proceeding with the launch, that effort obviously has been underway for some time. The image suggests a new reason for the launch. The key words may be the phrase on a billboard “Think Differently.”
The Tongchang-ri sits on North Korea’s scenic northwestern coast, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) from the northern border with China. The location could also be used for industrial development in cooperation with Chinese companies like FOXCONN and has several new, low buildings that look more like factories than launch buildings.
Across from the factory a, a new billboard with a picture of Kim Jong-Un appears to say “Think Differently!” This is similar to signs we have published about rumored production of Apple products in the North since the recent revelations about labor problems in China itself.
An analysis conducted for the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies says the image shows trucks and fuel tanks outside two large buildings that would be used to store propellant for the rocket. It also shows work under way at a gantry tower next to a mobile launch pad, with a crane being used to load equipment. The rocket itself is not yet visible.
“The image shows not only that the launch is going ahead but the preparations seem to be on schedule for the planned launch dates,” said Joel Wit, visiting fellow at the institute and editor of its website on North Korea, “38 North.” The analyst do not comment on the billboard or the other new buildings.