A group of Iranian missile experts is in North Korea to help Pyongyang prepare for a rocket launch, Japan’s Sankei Shimbun reported yesterday.
North Korea has said it will launch a communications satellite over northern Japan between next Saturday and April 8, and the report said the 15-strong Iranian delegation had been in the country since the beginning of this month.
It includes senior officials with Iranian rocket and satellite producer Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group, the daily said, quoting unnamed sources.
PHOTO: EPA
The Iranians brought a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il stressing the importance of cooperating on space technology, it said.
The US, Japan and South Korea believe Pyongyang is actually testing a Taepodong-2 missile that could, in theory, reach Alaska.
North Korea and Iran have both come under international pressure over their nuclear activities and are reported to maintain close ties on missile technology.
Meanwhile, a report said yesterday that spy satellites had photographed the nose cone of a long-range North Korean rocket on its launch pad, but it remained unclear whether it was carrying a satellite or a warhead.
“Spy satellites spotted the upper part of the rocket with its coverings removed on the launch pad,” an unnamed South Korean government source told Yonhap news agency. “But it is impossible to tell what object has been loaded onto the round-shaped [rocket] top — satellite or a warhead.”
The South Korean defense ministry declined to comment on the report.
Seoul believes Pyongyang would choose its launch date based on weather considerations, Yonhap said.
North Korea's launch site is expected to have either snow or rain on Saturday afternoon, cloudy skies on April 5 and clear skies between April 6 and April 10, Yonhap said quoting the unnamed government source.
A top US general last week said the US could shoot down the projectile if it was determined to be a ballistic missile and Japan also said it would try to shoot down any rocket heading for its territory.
South Korea, Japan and the US say that North Korea’s rocket launch would be in violation of a UN Security Council resolution banning the communist state from carrying out ballistic missile activities.
Envoys from the three allies met in Washington during the weekend to discuss countermeasures to be taken against North Korea.
Washington and Tokyo have worked jointly on a missile defense shield, using land and sea-based missiles, against a possible attack from North Korea, which fired a missile over Japan in 1998 and tested a nuclear device in 2006.
Meanwhile, the Japanese military has deployed Patriot guided-missile units in and around Tokyo, the defence ministry said yesterday.
Two Patriot missile launchers are in place in front of the defence ministry building in downtown Tokyo, ministry officials said.
The cannon barrels are pointing toward air space in the northwest, where the rocket is expected to pass through.
Other missile units have been deployed in stations of the Ground and Air Self-Defence Forces in Saitama, north of Tokyo, and Chiba, southeast of the capital, the officials said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique