North Korea’s recently launched satellite is once again tumbling in orbit, after stabilizing briefly, according to a US official and other sources.
The satellite update came as a key US congressional watchdog agency said the US military had not demonstrated its ability to protect the nation against a possible North Korean missile attack.
Earlier this month, North Korea launched what it said was an earth observation satellite, but what its neighbors and the US called a missile test. It was earlier believed to have achieved stable orbit, but not to have transmitted data back to Earth.
The US official and two other sources with knowledge of the issue said they are less concerned about the function of the satellite than with the technology involved in launching it. They added that the launch was clearly intended to demonstrate North Korea’s ability to launch an intercontinental ballistic missile.
The US Government Accountability Office, the research arm of Congress, highlighted concerns about missile attacks from North Korea in a report released on Wednesday.
“GMD [Ground-based Midcourse Defense] flight testing, to date, was insufficient to demonstrate that an operationally useful defense capability exists,” the office said.
The report said that the GMD, a missile defense system, had only demonstrated “a partial capability against small numbers of simple ballistic missile threats.”
Former Missile Defense Agency deputy director Ken Todorov said the organization faced a difficult balancing act in meeting the needs of the US military and operating with limited resources for testing.
Last month, the agency conducted a successful test of the ground-based US missile defense system managed by Boeing Co aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of a redesigned “kill vehicle” built by Raytheon Co.
The test purposely did not include an intercept by a ground-based interceptor, but was designed to demonstrate the ability of new “divert thrusters” that were developed by Raytheon to maneuver the warhead.
The report said that while there were benefits in the way the agency was acquiring the kill vehicle, challenges remained.
It added that the Pentagon’s goal to reach 44 ground-based missile defense systems by the end of next year was based on a “highly optimistic, aggressive schedule” leading to “high-risk acquisition practices.”
In related news, US President Barack Obama on Thursday slapped North Korea with more stringent sanctions for defying the world and pushing forward with its nuclear weapons program.
Democratic and Republican lawmakers overwhelmingly approved the bill last week and sent it to the White House. The House voted 408-2, following a unanimous vote by the Senate.
Obama signed the legislation away from the news media and issued no statement.
The new measures are intended to deny North Korea the money it needs to develop miniaturized warheads and the long-range missiles required to deliver them.
The legislation also authorizes US$50 million over the next five years to transmit radio broadcasts into North Korea, purchase communications equipment and support humanitarian assistance programs.
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