A NORTH KOREAN SATELLITE?

QUESTIONS ASKED ABOUT N. KOREAN SATELLITE

UPI.com, December 13, 2012

PYONGYANG, North Korea, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- North Korea may claim to have put a satellite in space using a long-range rocket, but questions arose Thursday about its mission or success.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said the satellite launched by North Korea Wednesday was circling the Earth with an orbital period of 95.4 minutes but its success will not be known for about two weeks, Yonhap News reported.

The ministry, quoting data from the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite was circling the Earth at 4.7 miles per second, with an oval radius of up to 367 miles.

"It is not yet known what kind of mission the satellite is conducting," ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said, Yonhap reported. "It usually takes two weeks to evaluate whether a satellite is successful. For the time being, it is working normally."

The rocket launch has been widely condemned as the North is prohibited by U.N. Security Council resolutions from further nuclear or missile tests after the country conducted two nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009. The North has said its latest test is for peaceful purposes.

Critics see the rocket firing as a cover by the North to test ballistic missile capable to carrying nuclear weapons.

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